What is a Request for Proposal? How to Write an RFP
Not all projects should kick off with a handshake agreement. Some are too complex and have far too much at stake. For the big projects, with many stakeholders at every step, you should vet contractors, seek out bids, and review your options before you get started. And even then, you may find yourself crossing your fingers in the hopes you’ve made the right decision. Before you turn that key project over to someone just because you heard they were the best, stop. Slow down. Take a breath, sit down with your team, and create one of the most important documents required to complete big projects: an RFP. What does RFP stand for? So, what is an RFP? An RFP (which stands for request for proposal) is a business document that outlines a new project. In an RFP, you’ll ask prospective contractors to submit their bids for completing that project. It’s common in businesses like construction, for example, when a business can’t build its own sites. As Investopedia puts it, an RFP “is a project announcement posted publicly by an organization indicating that bids for contractors to complete the project are sought.” In other words, when you create an RFP, you’re asking businesses to submit their best estimates for completing what you need to get done. But the RFP is more than just an “ask.” It should also provide enough details about the project so that the aspiring bidders can provide an accurate estimate of what it would take to finish it. The more accurate the RFP is, the more likely it is to solicit bids that line up with real-world results. When are RFPs issued? You might issue an RFP whenever you have a large, complicated project with a significant budget. This is particularly true in the public sector. Typically, government agencies issue RFPs to solicit private bids, opening up price competition between bidders and maximizing the quality of results for the price. For example, the National Association of Counties (NACo) includes its own instructions for governments creating RFPs. This isn’t to say that RFPs are public-only documents. Any time a private company needs to consult outside help from bidders and contractors — who often enlist subcontractors themselves — an RFP could be an effective way to start. RFP benefits go beyond inviting potential bidders to submit their estimates. These documents should also include details of the project. Critical details include project milestones, regulatory requirements, and any pressing calendar deadlines. The more clear the RFP is about these requirements, the more it will naturally filter out any bidders who can’t meet the project's scope. What kind of organizations use RFPs? RFPs are particularly adept at lining up potential contractors for complex, service-based projects. For small projects with one contractor and one deliverable, an RFP might not be necessary. However, professional services that require extensive project planning and the employment of different skills, equipment, and labor are much more complicated. This makes their pricing and planning more complex. RFPs are common across a range of businesses, but they’re especially common in the following industries. Construction companies The project might have a simple goal: to build a site by a specific date. But anyone who’s worked in construction knows that even a project with a simple goal can be susceptible to scope creep. An RFP for construction companies should define key stakeholders, establish the expectations for the final result, explain cost and budget limitations, and establish realistic deadlines. In turn, the construction company has plenty of information to include in its bid: estimated timelines for meeting milestones, equipment used, insurance and regulatory compliance needs, and subcontractor details. A construction RFP should also include notices for any extra materials you’ll need to review. For example, a business building a new office compound may have no ideas about handling fire safety. But they can build a notice into the RFP asking each construction bid to highlight their fire safety plan for each floor. Marketing companies A detailed marketing project can be a multimillion-dollar effort. Like construction, putting together a large marketing campaign requires skills across a range of disciplines — writing ads, editing TV and internet spots, data and research, and ad buying. An RFP outlines the goals of a marketing campaign while leaving flexibility in the hands of digital marketing experts as to how to achieve those goals. Government agencies A government agency is often unable to offer all of the services it’s responsible for. But with the budget to do so, it can solicit private contractors to place bids on the required work. Government agencies will often hire construction, consulting, educational, and marketing-based services to fulfill the government’s obligations to the public. The RFP is an essential tool here, allowing government agencies to review each bidder while securing the best possible rates. Statement of work vs. proposal: What’s the difference? An RFP asks specifically for a proposal. On the surface, this might sound like the RFP is asking for a simple outline of the labor, budget, and timeline details required to fulfill a project. But a proposal differs from a statement of work (SoW) in that an SoW might be a section of the proposal, but never vice versa: A proposal is an overall pitch for a company’s approach to the project. The statement of work might be one element of this proposal, but a proposal can include other elements like a background on the company itself. Think of the proposal as a marketing tool on behalf of the company doing the bidding. It might include the basic details necessary to submit the bid, but it’s also looking to differentiate the company from the competition. A statement of work is a straightforward listing of the project’s milestones, the timeline, and the pricing of each element. One page within a proposal might outline the statement of work. Unlike the proposal itself, this section is typically written to be clear and is often closer to a list of bullet points. The RFP bidding process is typically the first stage in selecting a company. As G2 notes, it’s also an announcement of your upcoming project. For that reason, requesting a proposal means you’re inviting companies not only to outline their estimates, but essentially to make their best pitch. This puts you in the position to whittle down the best candidates. What to include in an RFP The purpose of an RFP is clear: not only to learn which companies can provide the services you’re looking for but to gauge what a realistic timeline and budget for your project might be. However, without adequate guidance on what to include in an RFP, you may find that businesses submit unclear proposals. Your goal with an RFP should be to cut through the ambiguity and bring clarity to your project. To do that, you’re going to need to include several elements: Relevant company and project history Start by getting a background on what the company is, who leads the company, and whether they’ve completed any similar projects in the past. It’s true that past performance isn’t necessarily indicative of future performance. But if your goal is to build a new downtown office high-rise and there’s only one company who can point to building a previous office high-rise who submits a proposal, you’ve probably got a fair idea that they’re going to be the best choice. The key here is to focus on relevant company and project history. You don’t need details about a company’s founding that have nothing to do with your upcoming project or initiative. Project scope and objectives In a project’s scope, you should provide just as much information as you solicit. This is when you need to make your deliverables clear. But what is a project’s “scope” exactly? It’s a brief document that includes the following details: Business case: This is the overall summary, detailing what the project is, why it’s necessary, and what the project hopes to achieve by the time it’s finished. Budget: Although it can sometimes be difficult to pin down a tight budget, many RFPs will include a basic budget “window” within which companies can submit their bids. Timeline: The overall timeline, especially the deadline, is critical. This is also a way to filter out companies that may be too busy to take on a significant amount of work in your timeline. Milestones: Milestones can be like mile-markers that signify the completion of individual portions of the project. Although not always necessary, it can be helpful to agree on project milestones ahead of time, particularly when subcontractor work is involved. Having milestones planned out in advance helps both sides assess what objectives to hit in order to keep the project on track. Deliverables: Finally, outline what deliverables you want completed by the end of the project. Include as many details necessary to consider the project to be completed, especially if there are any regulatory requirements at play. Project requirements Sometimes, project demands mean you’re working with constraints outside of your control. That may include budgetary constraints, government regulations, or NDAs you require bidders to sign. Don’t hide these in hopes of securing better bids upfront. Include these essential details in your RFP. The sooner you make these requirements clear, the more sure you’ll be that you’re only working with qualified bidders as the process moves on. Similarly, try not to limit the scope of requirements you include. Whether you have business requirements or technical requirements to be satisfied, it’s always better to include these on the RFP so there’s no mistaking them. You don’t want to get 2/3rds of the way to completing a new office building only to find out that the construction company you hired isn’t licensed to handle the windows and didn’t include that estimate in the bid. Selection criteria Ever had a teacher who told you what sections of your textbook would be on the quiz? When you studied, you probably made sure that you reviewed those exact pages. In doing so, you remembered them all. Stating your selection criteria in an RFP is a bit like that. Spell out the precise details that will make you select one bidder over another. Don’t make them guess. When you tell them what variables matter most to you — budget, scheduling, etc. — you make sure every bidder gives their best possible answer on these variables. This makes for better comparisons when it’s time to review the proposals and select the finalists. Timelines Executing is important, but not if a project has so many overruns that it’s only completed years after the deadline. State your project timeline in clear, specific terms. This is essential information that guides other priorities. Contractors can use project timelines to gauge their budget, whether they’ll have to hire subcontractors to supplement their team, or whether they’ll even have the bandwidth to take on this project in the first place. Possible roadblocks An effective plan doesn’t just state what should happen. It also considers the risks involved. Take the time to brainstorm these potential roadblocks with your team, then list them in their own section. Of all the RFP requirements, this may seem the most optional. Why perform this exercise? Isn’t it something that the contractors should consider instead? Simply put, you want to list the potential roadblocks because you still own this project. By making other companies aware of these roadblocks, you can solicit more accurate proposals. Rather than selecting a low-budget option when you aren’t sure if they meet your qualifications, getting the roadblocks out of the way will serve as another selection filter. You’re less likely to go wrong in the long term if you’re upfront about the challenges. Budget The budget is often the top concern for anyone crafting an RFP. That’s for obvious reasons. Budgets determine resources, investments, time, effort, and the amount of labor a contractor can allocate to your project. Even if you’re not confident that your budget is high enough, make it clear when you don’t have any wiggle room. It’s better to receive an RFP response of “sorry — we can’t do it at that price” than to create unrealistic budget expectations in the hopes of generating more responses. Be realistic about how much budget you can allocate to this project so you can get accurate proposals and realistic bids. The budget may also include payment terms, such as when each milestone’s invoice is due. About 63% of contractors say they “sometimes” get paid on time, so don’t be surprised if contracts include payment terms in this section of the proposal. Response guidance Finally, your RFP responses can use a little coaching. Tell these businesses what you want to hear from them and what you don’t. Make sure to include some other key details at the end, such as: Contact information: Who should businesses send their bids to? List the primary contact for the project and how to get in touch with them. Submission requirements and deadlines: Set a hard date, at which point you can gather all of the proposals and review them with your team. Give businesses enough cushion time to prepare an adequate proposal. Required elements: What are the must-have details you need to review in every proposal? Make note of the comparisons you want to make, such as the project’s budget — and let companies know that this information is required as part of their proposal. An RFP example Once complete, an RFP will mostly be an empty form — it’s up to the businesses to fill in the information. It may look something like this: Project overview: This is the part you do fill in. Here you’ll include the details we just reviewed, such as budget, timelines, project details, and any further guidance. Example: Imagine your project is a new website for your company. In this case, the project overview would include the types of pages you’d need for the website, the functionality you’d like to have, and when you’d like to launch the new site. Project goals: With the details in place, think of this section as a little bit like a time machine. Explain what you want the project to look like after everything is said and done. Example: Let’s stick with the website example. What do you want completed by the deadline? A fully-functioning website that’s capable of taking customer orders? Get specific about the deadlines and milestones your project needs to hit for you to consider it a success. Scope of work: Now it’s time to turn the work over to the people filling out the proposals. Explain the level of detail you need in the scope of work, then leave plenty of space for businesses to handle the rest. Example: In our website example, you might compare the scope of work from one project to another. Who is doing custom web development? Who is relying on pre-existing templates? “Scope of work” helps you understand each company’s approach. Roadblocks/barriers: In this section, either explain the roadblocks you foresee, allow the businesses to submit their own thoughts on the matter, or both. Example: Is there existing content that needs to be overwritten? Do you need to migrate to a new web hosting platform before the new company develops your website? Evaluation metrics: This is when you can include your own response guidance and selection criteria. List out the necessary details or extra materials you need to see for an effective bid. You might also include a submission requirements field here to further explain what every bid should look like before handing it in. Example: Tell the web developers what you need to see in each proposal. This will be up to you. Do you have a hard ceiling on the budget? Mention that. Is meeting the deadline your priority so you can have the website up by Black Friday? Mention that too. What does the RFP bidding process involve? You should have enough now to fill in the precise details of an RFP tailored to your upcoming project. Now what? You can’t wave a magic wand and expect the bids to start rolling in, after all. It may seem difficult at first, but since you’re the one looking to hire, don’t expect it to stay difficult for long. You simply need the contact information for relevant businesses you want to invite to submit a bid. You might ask businesses or organizations similar to yours where they were able to ask for proposals. Or, for some smaller projects, you might visit online resources and project postings to publicize your RFP. Once your RFP is in the hands of multiple businesses, your challenge shifts. No longer are you concerned with finding businesses, but dealing with the (potentially) overwhelming number of bids you’ve received. Organize the proposals and, after the deadline, begin whittling down. Use your key metrics for this funnel. For example, if one bid came in at double your maximum budget, but you have five others at the budget, you can reasonably toss the high-budget proposal aside. RFP response examples The specific RFP response you receive may vary, depending on the RFP itself. But typically, you should expect a cover letter and an attachment of the proposal in full. The cover letter is important and the first mark of a company with strong sales skills. It’s your first impression of the level of care and attention the company gave your proposal. For example, this… To whom it may concern: Attached is a standard project rate for XYZ Company. We very much look forward to serving your business needs. …reads like a form letter. However, a company that has taken the time to vet and review your RFP will address more specific concerns. To [Specific Contact’s Name]: Thank you for the opportunity to submit a bid for your [specific project details]. ABC Company has completed three similar projects in the past, the details of which are attached in this email. You can also find PDF and Word attachments detailing our proposals, as well as the extra materials you requested. It’s not hard to spot which cover letter sounds like it’s more likely to lead to a detailed, well-considered proposal. A good business has time to consider every aspect of their bid to increase their success — especially when companies that submit bids usually only win an average of 44% of them. RFP response tips and tricks What if you’re the one sending an RFP response? The RFP bidding process can feel like a minefield. Here are some time-tested tricks to get your proposal noticed: Take time to understand the RFP There’s no point in spending time on a proposal if you misunderstand the project in the first place. You’ll end up submitting a proposal that is either entirely off the mark or wasting your time with a project that wasn’t right for your business in the first place. However, if you take the time to understand the RFP, every point you include in the proposal will speak directly to your potential client’s needs, making it more likely they’ll accept yours. Review all project requirements thoroughly This is an off-shoot of the tip above. You don’t want to get too far in the project estimation process before you realize that the timeline is completely unrealistic for a company with your limited resources. Learn all of the requirements before you agree to a proposal. Draft possible questions from stakeholders A good RFP is open to feedback and questions. As you work through your proposal, maintain a list of questions that the RFP doesn’t answer. You’ll not only find this useful in researching the project, but the company requesting the information will likely appreciate the consideration you put into your proposal. Create the first draft of your response The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Create the first draft with the steps above in mind, but don’t hesitate over every detail. Remember you can always review and edit this response before you send it in. Get it checked by your team Don’t just have one person review the draft. Bring in the entire team. Make sure everyone is on board with the vision for the project — that you’re not writing checks that the company can’t cash, so to speak. Present and submit your final proposal Finally, create a cover letter (like the one above), polish up the proposal, and send it off. If you’re presenting it in person, prepare an overview presentation that includes the basic details. But if you’re presenting it via email only, make sure that everything is available via attachment and that you confirm your RFP is received. Why use Wrike to plan your RFP documents? The RFP is central to getting business done, on both ends. For the organization doing the hiring, it’s critical to get solid work on large projects with reasonable schedules and budgets. For a company submitting proposals, it’s the difference between a full schedule and wishing you had more work. But you shouldn’t try to reinvent the wheel with RFP documents. Use Wrike templates to ensure the proper organization and workflows necessary to build out documents that are professional, comprehensive, and effective. On both sides of an RFP, it’s critical to think of every key detail. It will help two different organizations not only connect, but thrive together. Ready to simplify your RFP process? Get started with Wrike today.
Top Bookkeeping & Accounting Tips for Small Businesses
The majority of small business owners and start-up founders are on their toes almost every day. Though several activities stake their claim on your time, accounting and bookkeeping form a significant chunk of your workload. Whether you are documenting your monthly expenses, getting tax papers in order, or taking care of bills, organizing your accounting back-office is essential. Cash flows are critical for business. US Bank research confirms that cash flow issues are the number one reason for the closure of almost 82% of small businesses. The failure rate of sole proprietorships is even lower, according to the same study. What differentiates businesses that become successful from those that shut up shop? Sometimes, the difference between success and failure can be as simple as: Setting clear and manageable goals Making a plan of action for business visibility Investing in the right tools to run the company Proactively avoiding common pitfalls In this blog, we’ve curated our top accounting and bookkeeping tips that’ll help organize your finances, prevent liquidity issues, and grow your small business. Accounting tips and tricks for small business owners and startups You may get away with manual processes in the beginning. However, things can get messy as the business grows and takes on more clients or staff. Here are some top bookkeeping tips for startups that will help you plan, organize your cash flows, and build a successful business. Keep tabs on expenses Overspending can be the bane of businesses. However, it is important to note that not all expenses provide the same value. Remember that every dollar spent takes the company one step away from profit. So when you start your business, keep a close watch on all expenses. Understand the benefit gained from every expense and document it carefully. Choose an accounting structure Deciding which accounting structure to use for your small business is not your accountant’s prerogative alone. Consult your accountant on which accounting method to choose from — cash-based accounting or accrual-based accounting. Here is a brief primer on both methods: Cash-based accounting: In cash-based accounting, companies document revenue when money is received. They record expenses when the cash is paid. Cash-based accounting is perfect for smaller businesses and professional service firms that do not hold inventory. Accrual-based accounting: In accrual accounting practice, income is reported when earned, not when cash is received. Expenses are documented when money is incurred, not actually paid. Accrual-based accounting is suitable for significantly larger and more complex businesses with inventory or shareholders and investors. Automate manual processes Automating routine processes is one of the golden accounting tips for startups. Many accounting and bookkeeping activities are repeated, such as: Calculating mileage payments for staff reimbursements Documenting utility bills in a centralized database Tracking invoices sent to customers Following up on late invoices Paying staff salaries each month Make your life easier by using a unified accounting project management solution to track expenses, generate custom reports, and send invoices automatically. Categorize expenses Tracking business expenses can make or break your business. No business owner wants to pay unnecessary taxes. To ensure that you receive the benefit of tax write-offs and deductions available to your company, keep a record of all expenses. Start by documenting expenses, then classify them into appropriate categories such as bill payments, vendors, administration, or miscellaneous. Keep an eye on the credit One of the most common signs of an insolvent business is an inability to make payments on time. It may struggle with a poor credit score, lack of funding, or difficulty fulfilling its working capital needs. When companies use bank finance to fund their daily operations, they often struggle to pay back the high-interest debt. Do adequate due diligence before taking on any external funding. Forecast future expenses and income When setting your financial goals, consider three distinct elements — the past, present, and future. Going full steam ahead without a financial forecast is a waste of time and money. An Institute of Business Forecasting and Planning study confirms that businesses can save up to $3.5 million per year with accurate financial forecasting. Companies need to create and maintain accurate financial forecasts that keep finances in top shape. This will help answer questions such as: What will our annual sales be in the next two years? What will the percentage increase in customers be in the coming five years? Will the company break even in the next accounting period? Do we have enough staff to handle client projects for the next year? Keep business and personal banking separate Getting a business bank account is one of the first steps you should take as a small business owner. Put this on your to-do list once you get a social security number as a sole proprietor or an Employer Identification Number (EIN) as a professional service firm founder. Here are some reasons for separating personal and business banking: Having clear visibility into business cash flows Saving time by not scrambling through endless bank statements to identify and differentiate individual and business transactions Keeping tax-related documentation clear and ready Avoiding legal responsibility for business debts [caption id="attachment_472816" align="aligncenter" width="2500"] Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash[/caption] Know the law Many small business owners know how to manage a business. However, they may not have sufficient knowledge about accounting and bookkeeping. Additionally, business owners are likely to be unaware of the federal, local, and state laws and legal regulations required for business. For example, a company must: Maintain paper receipts for the last three accounting periods (accountants recommend retaining receipts for the previous seven years) Provide paper receipts to legal authorities such as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to claim tax deductions Accurately record income to avoid tax underpayments and IRS penalties Create business budgets Did you know that setting up and reviewing a budget is directly related to startup success? According to a survey by the US Small Business Administration, small businesses that review their budget weekly, monthly, and annually have success rates of 95%, 75%, and 25%, respectively. The survey found that successful small businesses have these financial management traits in common: Relatively higher unused credit balances The ability to earmark appropriate amounts for payroll expenses Regular budget monitoring An understanding of the benefits of using credit for business Consider paying yourself Entrepreneurs managing S corporations and C corporations pay themselves a salary on regular business payroll. Small business owners and startup founders can do the same and consider it an owner’s draw in legal terms. Having an apportioned salary for the business owner is an accepted business practice that helps you reinforce the business’s distinct and legal standing. Consider a tax accountant Investing in a professional tax accountant can bring immense value to your business, with a time commitment of a few hours per week or month. A bookkeeper records income and expenses and categorizes them for specific periods. An accountant, meanwhile, helps file taxes and sets up the accounting backbone of the organization. With an accountant or bookkeeper taking care of financial tasks, small business owners can spend more time attracting new customers — Fundera estimates that this could net small companies up to $320k annually. Invest in accounting software Simplify business finances by automating manual workflows and processes to save precious time and resources. One of the easiest ways to do so is with accounting software that fits your business needs and budget. Forget the days of clunky, on-premise software. Pick from a wide variety of cloud-based accounting project management software that gets bookkeeping in order, streamlines cashflows, and helps you stay updated on finances. Worried that you need to be tech-savvy? There are many accounting project management solutions with clean and straightforward user interfaces perfect for non-techy entrepreneurs. Avoid business thefts and losses A study by Hiscox found that 68% of employee theft, fraud, and losses occur in small and medium businesses. The same study reports that a small business encounters an average loss of $289K a year. The most common occurrences were: Theft of business funds by employees (34% of cases) Check frauds (22% of cases) More than 70% of check fraud cases happened in companies with less than 100 employees. Optimizing your inventory management and automating your bookkeeping with dedicated software is essential to safeguard your small business from employee theft. Stay on top of invoicing Everyone likes being paid on time. As a direct fallout of COVID-19, more than 54% of businesses are struggling with delayed invoice payouts. Late invoice payments can mean: Failure to make timely payments to vendors, suppliers, and banks (for interest payments) Inability to make utility payments, including water, electricity, internet, or software subscriptions Struggling to pay staff salaries and travel expense reimbursements Inability to expand, invest, and make capital purchases Corporate insolvencies Delayed client invoices can also make businesses too dependent on bank financing or shareholder capital funding, which can further impact their finances. Plan for major purchases Whenever there is a major purchase in the offing, a business will need to have adequate cash flow to meet it. Bad credit can ruin business finances. In such a scenario, it may be difficult to obtain the necessary funding for business expansion or complete capital expenditures. Having your accounting and bookkeeping in order will help you get external funding or bank financing for major purchases. Why use Wrike software to keep your books up to date? Accounting and bookkeeping can be complex, time-consuming, and tedious. Establishing robust accounting practices and processes can help small businesses be more financially organized, tax-ready, and profitable in the long run. Most accounting tips for small business owners have less to do with accounting and more to do with managing your business. Elevate business productivity by getting Wrike’s project management software for accountants that helps: Teams collaborate seamlessly with automated reports for clear project visibility Adjust team workloads to ensure optimum productivity Improve business profitability by tracking project budgets in one place Speed up expense approvals and automate manual workflows Finance forms the core of any business. Get a free Wrike trial to establish a predictable cash flow system, eliminate the guesswork in accounting, and achieve small business success.
What Does a Project Manager Do in a Marketing Agency?
Within a marketing agency, the project manager is responsible for planning deliverables (including creating a project calendar), communicating with clients, and keeping marketing projects on track. Find out more project manager responsibilities and skills in this post.
How to Set Up a Freelance Agency
When you have more clients than you can possibly handle within a 40-hour workweek, it may be time to delegate work to freelancers like yourself, and turn what was once a humble solopreneur business into a full-fledged freelance agency, managed by you. But only if it makes sense.
3 Ways to Better Manage Freelance Creatives
If you're a creative team working with freelancers, then according to the 2014 In-House Creative Industry Report, you're in the 90% of all creative teams that will hire remote freelancers this year to meet peak demand. But as with any remote work situation, there are challenges to making it work. While remote work may be ideal for introverted creatives who perform best in silence and isolation, projects remain collaborative efforts. Feedback needs to go both ways: your freelancers need to proactively communicate with the team for better coordination, and your team needs to support and engage freelancers on a human level to create camaraderie. So how do you make the situation conducive to creativity and out-of-the-box thinking? Take a look at the Slideshare below for advice on how creative teams and freelancers can work better together: 3 Tips for Creative Teams Working with Remote Colleagues Learned something new today? Share this Slideshare on social media, or repost it on your own blog using this embed code: 3 Tips for Creative Teams Working with Remote Colleagues from Wrike Need More Tips on Managing Creatives? Download our free eBook: The Definitive Guide to Building a World-Class Internal Creative Agency. The eBook gives a detailed plan for growing & enhancing your company with an internal creative team, including what support you’ll need to get there.
6 Tips for Becoming a Successful Freelance Project Manager
Freelancing has its perks: be your own boss, enjoy work flexibility, work in a private space with everything from the tilt of your desk to the room temperature and lighting exactly how you like it. What we can often overlook are the immense challenges that come with going it alone, especially as a freelance project manager. Finding work is only the beginning. There are numerous different types of project managers. How much do project managers make? How much does an IT project manager make? Or, for a more specific role, how much does a construction project manager make? There are so many other factors to consider: the ebb and flow of your income, managing multiple deadlines that don’t inform each other, and making a mistake means fully owning your actions. You alone are accountable. It can be both scary and liberating! If you’re thinking of stepping into the life of a freelance project manager, here are 6 things you need to know to succeed. 1. Keep Your Skills Sharp Even if you’ve been in the industry for years, you are now looking to re-enter on your own terms. The problem is, rapid advancements in technology, changes in company structure, and new management approaches make keeping up-to-date a constant battle. Staying attuned to new ideas (and ways of thinking) is absolutely crucial. This doesn’t mean you have to read a pile of academic journals every morning; it can be as simple as reading project management blogs or enrolling in a leadership and management course. Ongoing learning (and up-to-date certifications) is what will set you apart as a forward-thinking, innovative professional — the exact traits that companies look for in project management consultancy. 2. Get Your Name Out There A freelance professional with minimal experience and limited connections is unlikely to be a front-runner candidate in the eyes of an employer. This doesn’t mean your case is hopeless! Although it is always better to begin freelancing as an established professional, there are other ways to set yourself apart from the crowd. Expand your network by attending conferences, connecting with industry leaders on social media, and joining established online project management communities. Promote your name and work online, and most importantly, always take a confident stance — even if you don’t feel that way. Chances are someone will repost your social content, your LinkedIn request will be accepted, and that phone call could put you on the right track to a job. 3. Build Your Portfolio That being said, if you don’t have the work to back up your statements then you may not be taken seriously as a project management consultant. It is imperative in this field that you have proven experience in: leading both short- and long-term projects, risk and crisis points, team management, and effective communication skills. This is where case studies, personal references, and hard data are your best friends. Whether you’ve been in the industry for a year or a decade, you should be adding to your personal portfolio from the moment you’re hired on a new job, and should continue until you walk out the door. 4. Set Remote Work Hours Freelancers inevitably spend long periods of time working remotely; it is part and parcel of the job, and remote work has its own challenges. Set clear, consistent working hours from the get-go to save yourself from stressful, late-night sessions. Any experienced project manager will tell you that delays are probable, problems likely, and mistakes inevitable. Running yourself ragged by working long hours will not only make these roadblocks more likely, but diminish your ability to handle a situation deftly when the time comes. Be sure to keep track of the hours you are working, and compare them to the average billable hours for consultants in your field — and when the project becomes too large, communicate this to your contact. 5. Keep Communications Clear Good communication is the best tool a freelance project manager has. Making the effort to maintain an open dialogue with stakeholders across all aspects of a project is a must. Anything from a daily wrap-up email to a weekly status update meeting will save you headaches later on, and demonstrate your confidence and reliability as a freelancing professional. An extra tip; be upfront in sharing your challenges and setbacks. It will make your successes all the greater in the eyes of your stakeholders. 6. Understand Who You’re Working With The only way to understand what a project needs to deliver is to have a clear grasp of the organization's goals and principles. (It's also crucial in knowing whether the project is a good fit for your skills and freelance portfolio.) This means being able to identify whether their needs align with your own professional ambitions and values. A good working relationship is based on mutual trust and understanding, and freelancing is no different. If you don’t thoroughly understand your client, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage before you even start. Set Yourself Up for Freelance Project Management Success It can be easy for freelance project managers to buckle under the pressure of working remotely, especially when the role is so closely tied to teamwork and communication. But with these steps on how to become a project manager and how to start a project management business, you can equip yourself to hit the ground running and build a successful consulting career that will take you places you never thought you'd go. Author Bio Helen Sabell works for the College for Adult Learning, and is passionate about lifelong learning. She has designed, developed, and authored many workplace leadership and training programs, both in Australia and overseas.
What the Future of Client Management Could Look Like
Collaborative work management software is changing the way we acquire and keep clients. We’ll cover the importance of client management, including six of the most common questions, a brief look into its history, plenty of examples, and nine predictions for the future of client management.
Wrike for Professional Services: Improve Project Delivery & Customer Satisfaction
Tight deadlines, budgets, resource management, siloed communication – the list of project management challenges for professional services teams is long. That’s why we’re excited to announce Wrike for Professional Services. Read more to learn how we can help with improving your project delivery and improve customer satisfaction.
The Best Funnel Marketing Techniques for B2B
Finding new leads can take a lot of time and resources without a concrete plan, which is why you need a scientific approach to funnel marketing. Read more to learn marketing funnel basics, how to set up your own lead generation machine based on tactics from leading brands, and create an impactful B2B campaign for your business.
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Professional Services
How do you get noticed in the professional services industry? It involves finding the right mix of content and tactics to attract and retain clients. In this guide to marketing for professional services, we’ll help you build a great team, develop a plan, and gather the right tools. Keep reading to discover trends and tips that will enhance your marketing strategy. What is marketing for professional services? Traditional marketing techniques are no longer enough to succeed in today's world. Instead, they should be designed to work seamlessly with today's clients, especially in the wake of the major changes that 2020 brought to the traditional workplace. This means finding strategies that will help you generate leads and close sales for the professional services niche. There are many ways to market a business, both offline and online. Examples include everything from social media to search engine marketing to networking events. Online and offline marketing techniques combine to allow you to reach out to clients wherever they are. For a professional services organization, you’ll need a strong roadmap for conquering both. There are two distinct and important concepts in marketing for professional services: niching down and customer-centric branding. While these aren’t unique to professional services, they should be top of mind for all marketing strategies in this sector. Niching down Instead of trying to be the best in the industry, try to hone in on a specific area. This will allow you to stand out from the crowd and ensure that your customers are happy with your work. Finding your niche market can also help you attract potential clients and partners that your competitors aren't specifically speaking to. Through niche marketing, you can expect to see more referrals and testimonials from your existing clients. Customer-centric branding Before diving into the world of selling, you should carefully consider the following: are there customers out there who you can sell to? Many professional service companies fail to develop a brand beyond simply being a service provider. Yes, it takes up a lot of resources to do. But when you shape your service around the client’s needs, you can confidently deliver it knowing that your offer is being marketed to who needs it the most. The result is a central marketing message that will be direct, clear, and memorable. It can even help further develop your offline and digital marketing strategy over time since a client-centric organization will listen to its customers and develop solutions that fit their needs as they go. Customer feedback will allow you to create new campaigns that answer specific questions, offer educational resources, and solve their problems with both free and paid solutions. This will ultimately provide a strong foundation for long-term client relationships. How to build a professional services marketing team The question of how to build the optimal marketing team comes down to a simple yet critical decision: what roles do you actually need?. Most of the time, the answer is not clear. It often comes with a series of generic titles such as social media guru, content writer, or marketing administrator. While they are useful for discussing how to accomplish each step, the following will give you the exact actions you need to take as you begin to build a professional services marketing team. Step 1: Ask questions Instead of cultivating a culture of continuous improvement, firms tend to create a hodgepodge marketing team focused on meeting the demands of fast growth. If you have any questions about the firm's strategic direction or growth priorities, start by asking your partners. Clarity is key to building or restructuring your team. It’s easier to make decisions regarding hiring when you know what you need and why you’re hiring in the first place. At a minimum, you should be able to answer the following: Where have we succeeded and failed in the past? How has marketing contributed to growth so far? Which of our services should be prioritized for marketing? What does success mean and how is it measured? Is our branding where it needs to be to reach our next set of goals? Which of our current marketing initiatives support our continued growth, and which do we need to revise, pause, or cancel? Step 2: Create a roadmap Most marketing managers don’t realize that, in order to build an effective team, they first need to create a comprehensive marketing roadmap that takes into account all their current and future needs. How do you get people to see your marketing and convert them into customers? By going beyond building a strategy that simply drives traffic to one that monetizes said traffic through a series of well-thought-out action steps and corresponding tasks. Doing so will help you map out the steps and resources needed to get it all done. This step will also provide a clear understanding of your long-term goals and how your future marketing team members will affect those goals. In fact, you may even realize that your current team has all the skills necessary to move forward with your plan. Step 3: Identify gaps There are two types of gaps in marketing teams: skill and availability. Based on the roadmap you’ve established in the next step, it should be clear where these gaps are for your current team. If you’re still unsure, look to your project management tool for help. For example, Wrike users can view individual schedules to determine where employees might have pockets of time to work on additional tasks. They can also redistribute work if the effort looks uneven. And if a particular team member has some out-of-office time coming up, managers can simply reassign tasks so that there are no bottlenecks in their absence. This feature also makes it easy to identify employee skills and where they should be putting more or less time. For example, if you have an SEO expert on social media posting but need assistance with your new website, you’ll be able to see what they’re working on and quickly follow up with a reassignment. Step 4: Make a wish list Now that you know where your marketing is, where it’s going, and what gaps you need to fill, it’s time to create your marketing team wishlist. In a fresh document, create separate sections for skills, availability, experience level, salary, and location. Fill this out based on your answer to the previous steps and use it as a hiring guide as you move forward. Now you know exactly how to build a professional services team that fits your unique needs while using critical thinking and data-backed analysis. What to include in a professional services marketing plan The fastest-growing firms are usually focused on a specific niche. Specialization is a marketing technique that helps define a certain aspect of a business or a certain industry. In fact, a firm’s competitive advantage often stems from its ability to identify and understand a specific segment of the marketplace. In professional services marketing, this means a number of different things, including: Hiring full-time and freelance team members who have experience in marketing for professional services Highlighting niche subject matter experts for your top services as part of your outbound content Narrowing down your offerings to the highest ROI ones and building a campaign around one or two Once you have your specialization strategy written down, at a minimum, you’ll need to build out each of the following to bring in more clients: 1. SEO content Creating compelling content is a great way to demonstrate your expertise and how you can solve complex problems. Blogging is useful for improving page rankings and strengthening your professional services website domain authority long-term. There are two sides to blogging: maintaining your own blog and contributing articles to other firms or industry publications. 2. Fully optimized website A lead-generating website is a key component of any marketing strategy. It serves as the central point of contact for all of your online marketing efforts. A well-designed and well-implemented website is an integral part of any marketing strategy. It can help generate leads and improve conversion rates. Make sure that any website you publish has a fast-loading speed, a back-end SEO strategy, and a plan for adding consistent weekly updates. Also, be sure to build out pages for each of the services you offer. Target keywords and publish written content that fully encompasses each specialty so that customers return to your site over and over again. 3. Event strategy Even if your professional services company operates entirely online, an event strategy will help your brand stand out. Regardless of how much time or budget you have for events, there are lots of ways to use them in your plan. Here are some examples: Sponsoring a popular event for your target industry Holding a virtual or live stream event Speaking and guest lecturing Hosting an after-party at a conference Networking with potential leads at an industry-specific event Professional services marketing trends you need to know Here are the professional service trends to look out for and how they’ll affect your marketing going forward: Virtual events In 2020, marketers had no choice but to embrace virtual events. And it turned out to be a positive change for many. Virtual events help attract new audiences and lower costs. And for professional services companies with clients and potential leads all over the world, connecting with them online in a more personal way isn’t such a bad idea. Everything from live streaming to virtual demonstrations can work. Value-based branding Consumers are increasingly demanding that their purchases align with the brands they buy from, which can be challenging for marketers. But for professional services companies, your marketing can revolve around your mission statement, ethical hiring and wage practices, and commitment to personal service. Relationship-building Professional services are focused on meeting the needs of the client. Before, many firms were able to provide these services through face-to-face client meetings. Today, clients are demanding more from their professional services firms. This means firms need to re-think their offerings and develop new ways to deliver value to their clients. This can be done through surveys, regular check-in meetings, and marketing materials focused on customer retention in addition to acquisition. Tools you need in marketing for professional services Because professional services brands focus on B2B clients, they’ll need to use B2B marketing tools to reach them. Here are the must-have tools for marketing professional services in 2021: Website traffic analytics Virtual meeting hosting service Content management and organization A/B testing tool Email sales funnel creator SEO research and reporting Keyword and search engine content analyzer Teamwide messaging tool File and media asset storage Workflow manager with status updates Automated social media posting tool CRM You can combine these tools into a marketing stack or look for solutions like Wrike that combine one or more of the above features into a single platform. How Wrike can help with your professional services marketing Most professional services firms know they need a marketing organization. But they don’t know how to build one that fits their business goals and needs. That’s where Wrike comes in. Hands-on product management and project management help marketing managers align onsite and remote teams with an organizational strategy that builds consensus across all team members. This is beneficial for all teams but is especially helpful for those working on complex projects or across different time zones. And if you offer multiple services, Wrike can help you keep track of who is working on what for which client at all times. Before any project begins, Wrike helps identify the key metrics and reporting infrastructure necessary to measure, monitor, and track marketing campaign success, even if you have more than one active project going at the same time. That way, your omnichannel marketing plan is all in one place. During projects, Wrike gives professional services companies the ability to optimize their processes. They can do so by creating and editing workflow templates for recurring projects. They can also use visual timelines and Gantt charts to eliminate potential roadblocks before they come up. And if something disrupts the plan, Wrike makes it easy to recover seamlessly with in-app communication and simplified status viewing, so managers never miss a beat. Wrike can help you align your marketing goals and processes all in one place. Wrike can also provide visibility into how those actions are impacting your success metrics through reporting and insights. Ready to master your marketing plan this year? Start your free trial.
4 Reasons to Have a Professional Services Management Template
The growing demand for project management skills is a huge threat to professional services businesses. Time tracking, resource management, collaboration and beyond, you need a professional services project management template. Here's why and a prebuilt free online professional services template you can download today.
4 Types of Clients You'll Work With and How to Delight Them
Professional services teams need tools to help them adjust to client communication styles while maintaining their workflow and project management best practices. Here are 4 types of client personalities and some actionable strategies to delight them without sacrificing productivity.