I don’t submit bids for RFPs without a meeting or option to have a conversation.
I find that it’s very important for both parties to be able to ask questions, get answers and know that they can work together off paper as well as on paper. A website or getting something designed is a collaboration and I have yet to have seen an RFP that was thorough enough for me to give an accurate and full estimate from without additional follow-up.
If you are sending out RFPs simply looking for the lowest price, you have come to the wrong place. Our pricing is fair to both parties, both the customer and the designer(s), which often means it’s not the rock bottom lowest. When in doubt, I bid high because I’m not going to nickel and dime people after the fact which is the other reason that having a conversation and having questions answered is so important to an accurate estimate.
One other thing that typically comes up when I see either “RFP” or “RFQ” as the starting point is full-time employee head count. I will go ahead and get this out of the way: I work with other reliable designers on an as-needed basis and do not currently have employees. I have more than once been told after submitting a project sheet and estimate that “one of our contract requirements was 5 employees minimum, sorry we missed telling you that.” Please save us all some time and be forthright if this is one of your requirements.
I hope this doesn’t come across as rude but having been in business since 2000, I’d rather call it like I see it instead of waste people’s time.
At a bare minimum Fascination Design must be able to ask questions and get answers in order for us to consider spending time an RFQ/RFP. Bottom line: IF there’s no conversation we’re probably not a good fit anyway.