After all of these years, you would have thought it would have been figured out by now. You create a Request for Proposal (RFP), send it to a few landscape companies, they send you a proposal, and you pick the company that is qualified and has a good price. It seems so simple!
The RFP process has become quite a bit more complicated over the years, especially in service based markets like the landscape maintenance industry. The purpose of the RFP - to get the best and most competitive landscape maintenance company servicing a property - is often times lost in today’s just-going-through-the-motions methods. Now, unaccredited “point systems”, unrealistic terms and conditions and vague definitions have turned strong, credible landscape companies away from bidding on properties.
Of course, many property managers already know the landscape company they want on their property, and they're just putting together an RFP to simply go through the motions. In fact, 72% of Fortune 1000 companies have already selected a vendor when they send out an RFP! It's no wonder that a proposer's chance of success is around 3-4%.
A quality landscape RFP is important to understand though, if property managers are looking to get the best landscape company taking care of their property, communicating with their employees, and representing them at the best price possible.
Updating the ol' RFP template isn’t working. It’s time to sit down and think about what’s truly going to get the best possible landscape management professional taking care of your property!
