Reducing RFI Effort by 90%

When I was working as a salesperson and later as a sales leader, I loved receiving RFIs because they represented new business opportunities. However, early in my career, when I was responsible for completing RFIs, I quickly realized how tedious and time-consuming the process was. Gathering answers, managing responses, and doing quality control checks took a minimum of 20 hours per RFI. I knew there had to be a better way.

The Moment I Knew Change Was Needed

One day, while managing multiple RFIs, I received two from separate companies that were nearly identical. The only differences were small, nuanced variations in some of the questions. Reviewing hundreds of questions just to identify minor distinctions was incredibly inefficient. It became clear that a new approach was necessary.

Early Attempts (and Failures) at Streamlining the Process

Before finding success, I experimented with simple solutions like using Find and Replace in Microsoft Word and Excel. While these tools helped somewhat, they still required significant manual effort, and they did nothing to improve consistency or quality across responses.

The Breakthrough: Using AI to Transform RFIs

I decided to leverage artificial intelligence to draft initial responses for RFIs. The idea was simple: instead of manually crafting responses from scratch, AI could generate a first draft, which my team could then refine and perfect. This shifted the workload from content creation to content review, significantly reducing the effort required while improving overall quality.

How My Team Reacted

Salespeople were thrilled that we could return RFIs faster, and cross-functional teams responsible for completing them loved that they no longer had to recreate responses. Instead, they simply had to refine and tailor AI-generated answers, making their work much more efficient and less frustrating.

Unexpected Benefits: Better Consistency and Higher Quality

One of the biggest surprises was that, beyond reducing effort, AI actually improved the quality of our responses. We achieved greater consistency in tone, voice, and messaging across different sections and functions, resulting in a more polished and professional final document.

Lessons Learned and Challenges

While the benefits were clear, I did have concerns about over-reliance on AI. Some team members were so relieved by the reduced workload that they assumed the AI-generated responses were perfect without thoroughly reviewing them. I had to emphasize the importance of careful review to ensure accuracy and relevance.

Final Thoughts

RFIs don’t have to be a dreaded task. By embracing AI and refining our approach, we reduced effort by 90%, delivered faster responses, and improved the overall quality of our submissions. If your team struggles with RFIs, I highly recommend exploring automation and AI tools to streamline the process.

Have you encountered similar challenges with RFIs? Let’s connect and discuss how technology can revolutionize your workflow!