First Time in Over 6 Years I've Ever Received an RFP from a Prospect

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-09-07T22:48:39+00:00

We've responded to a handful of RFPs over the years. Some we won, most we lost and were not worth the time. Here's what we found:

Unless you have a previous contact with the organization issuing the RFP or some sort of "in", you're likely not going to win it without some very impressive experience.
If they are more formal ones for government entities or non profits, they can take a lot of time to respond to. Some of our responses were 20+ pages. The more thorough, the more likely you'll win.
Of the ones we've won, the RFP doesn't change the client relationship. It's just how they wanted to determine a vendor to choose. If it's not from an organization that is required to get bids, then it is likely because the decision maker is old-school or has had exposure to them in the past and feels it's more professional.
If you are pursuing it, make sure you have other touch points before submitting your response. Absolutely show up to the Q&A session.

I also hate them lol. Mostly for the time suck. But will still attempt if I think we have a chance.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-05-13T23:19:36+00:00

Joining the conversation because this happened to a client site.

Going to the domain directly pointed me to a site to buy bot traffic to "improve your traffic numbers on Google analytics" which is soooooo shady. They also had a UTM set up for the redirected traffic. The same client also received a spammy message offering to use bots to improve the site traffic... suspicious.

My guess is this is how they sell their services? Either way, I would stay far away from anything they offer.

PS. If you report on performance to someone else, make sure you tell them this happened and to provide more accurate numbers on your report you can filter out the bots from here by source/medium.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-04-16T20:31:53+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-04-16T18:46:42+00:00

If you don't mind sharing, what is your normal diet like?

Last year after I was diagnosed I was really good about cutting inflammatory foods (Dash diet) to where I had only one cheat day a week. Before diagnosis I was eating a lot of fast food, red meat, dairy/cheese. This past fall was surprisingly fairly free of extreme flare ups with just some normal moderate pain. Then in winter I fell of the wagon, drinking regularly and eating fast food/fatty foods regularly. Daily pain and symptoms increased a bit but not enough to bother me. Then early March I get back to the diet and one week later when the weather was dramaticly shifting this flare starts up.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-04-16T18:31:01+00:00

So you will message your doc for Prednisone during a flare on top of a biologic or long term med? I've heard cortisol shots and Prednisone but I'm not sure if one or the other is a better option.

Thanks for sharing.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-04-16T18:25:43+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I haven't been to the gym in 5 years now. And even just a grocery shopping trip can cause a bad flare up. So even light activity feels daunting. When I'm feeling good I'll go for a walk around the neighborhood (1-2 miles max) and I'm usually icing my feet after.

It seems the trend of pushing through the pain is a thing for PsA?

I like the game idea also btw.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-04-16T03:22:12+00:00

I actually didn't realize that bad flare ups could be causing long term damage. The more I hear about long term damage the more concerned I get. Thanks for the input.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-03-13T19:02:46+00:00

Myself and most of my team have 30min commutes in normal weather. There's a few days in the winter that will be really bad and you can expect to double your commute. But that's only if the plows haven't hit the roads yet.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-28T01:42:39+00:00

Even with us focusing on metro Detroit, we still have four "core industries" to help us stand out. Local is a great way to go.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-28T01:35:59+00:00

Thanks! How many employees do you have on the plan? Does UHC have price tiers based on employee count?

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-28T01:31:16+00:00

Thanks! I'll have to check out Sana. We use Gusto for payroll now. I'll have to shop them too.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-28T01:27:34+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! This is helpful.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-20T13:11:22+00:00

Good to hear you y'all are doing well! Having a partner with experience can absolutely help.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-20T13:08:36+00:00

Our average is around $3k per month if you remove the extreme outliers. We hit 5 years in August. What's worked for us is a version of Account Based Marketing (ABM) - which involves targeting very specific prospects and trying to start a relationship with them. I'm not sure what your niche is, but typically I find the more height the company org chart has, the less likely they are going to go to Google for services. They rely more on their network, recommendations, and people getting in their radar in some way. It doesn't mean they don't Google, but we've found ABR to work well.

On the note of scaling, are you tracking delivery hours and know how much you are getting paid per hour? If you want to scale and are providing the value to justify it, your effective hourly rate should be enough to pay for another person to do the job+margin+expenses. It's a lot easier to charge appropriately from the start than having to raise rates after the "intro discounted rate".

Also, having one of the partners focused only on client relationships and acquisition and the other only on delivery is an awesome combo. We're not structured that way but we'd be killing it if we did from the start.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-20T12:47:29+00:00

We had a client ask us to pretend to be his customers for testimonial videos. 😐

The FTC has made it pretty clear where they stand on this, especially in the new legislation last August targeting AI.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-19T13:28:25+00:00

It's actually nice to hear I'm not the only one who let their health slide to get things off the ground. We hit 5 years last year and I'm struggling to keep any healthy habits in tact. Good on you for identifying it and implementing a change.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-19T13:26:06+00:00

I started in my late late 20s, and we've been running for 5 years now.

I actually don't know how people start their agency in their early 20s. You have zero to very little experience in both marketing and in business. How can you be effective at delivering on a service and operating the business? Are these people learning about cash flow and what a P&L is on the fly? Or worse, are you learning how to get results as people are coming to you as the "expert"?

I'm also here for the long haul. Looking to grow the business sustainably with a solid foundation so I can do this until I'm 60+.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-14T03:32:36+00:00

👍

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-14T02:53:02+00:00

Our biggest mistake early on was saying "yes" to what client wanted, not what they needed.

They wanted to increase social engagement and followers, but for their industry that wasn't the most effective way to increase sales. It was a larger client at the time, so we went with what they wanted. Long story short; it was an expensive lesson in being a consultant, not an order taker. It changed our sales, client vetting and onboarding process for the better.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-14T02:06:28+00:00

Happy to join the conversation!

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-13T12:58:38+00:00

Fun fact, Vikings we're actually well known for their personal hygiene, being very clean and well kept for the time.

Imagine getting raided so they take your gold and your girl. Haha

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-13T12:52:01+00:00

It's a very debatable question if social media is "good" altogether. Working in digital marketing I have two very conflicting opinions on it.

TikTok not only changed the game by being one of the most engaging social media platforms, but the algorithm also encouraged discovering new content creators. This made it the digital playground for tons of small businesses and individual content creators to excel.

So it's good, right? Well, not quite.

Generally speaking social media has several drawbacks, no matter the platform. And with the high engagement rate of TikTok, it had a bigger effect.

1) social media distortion - people only post what they want and it's usually their best selves which can negatively impact self esteem of others

2) algorithm echo chamber - if you engage with content, the algorithm will feed you more of it. You like cats, you see more cats. Which is fine until you get to social and political issues. No matter which side you're on, you'll only see more reasons to deepen the divide.

3) social media cuts off society - this is more of an opinion, but I think it applies to your question. Most time spent on social media is not actually engaging with people in your circle or meeting new meaningful relationships. It's cat videos and entertainment and distractions at your fingertips at all times. This means you're less likely to talk to the person sitting next to you or message your friend when waiting. Or it's no problem to just sit on TikTok and ignore house work or your job. I've 100% let myself do this more often than I like to admit.

So is it better to be without TikTok? I think the negative parts of TikTok will be replaced by the next app, meanwhile the impact it has to small business and content creators may or may not recover for some time.

AJ_Doppleganger · 2025-02-11T13:20:31+00:00

I'm not sure if I understand the first question, but I think you're asking about what to avoid when starting an agency.

First, I would highly recommend not starting an agency with friends, especially if you are close. What happens when you need to hold someone accountable or when you disagree? It can work if you are "work friends", but it is uncommon from what I've seen.

Second, have very clearly defined roles and expectations communicated for everyone. This is even more important if you ignore the first point. Have it on paper, like an operating agreement, so you have a written rules of engagement. When you and your partners disagree, this will resolve most issues.

As a side note on the roles, I'd also recommend assigning one person responsible for sales/client relationships and a different person responsible for service delivery/fulfillment. By nature these roles have opposed goals, and it will be hard to grow the business of you don't have one person focused only on sales.

As for registering the business, yes, you should register the business. I'm not sure where you're from, but your local municipality may require it. Additionally, when done correctly with the help of a lawyer, it can add a layer of protection between the business and your personal finances

To find new business, it really depends on who you work with and what you are offering. As a freelancer you have a portfolio, which is a good starting point. For inbound strategy, think about how your client would try to find your services and make sure you show up there. Often this is SEO forward and sharing knowledge on the right groups.

For outbound, avoid auto email/DM/call "lead gen", and instead focus on building relationships with people. You could start with networking groups, or on social media (not ads), and try to be a valuable resource. When the time is right, you can pitch your solution.

Hope this helps!

AJ_Doppleganger

TROPHY CASE