We get asked often to talk about the RFP process.  While we don’t use the term RFP, we do receive a set of materials from agencies at the initial step of the review process.  Because we work with a wide range of clients, we see submissions from agencies large and small in all marketing communications disciplines.  We see a lot of good responses, but we also see some bad ones.  

Here are the three biggest, and common, mistakes we see from agencies:
 
1.  Typos:  Seems so obvious, but we see it frequently and it causes an immediate, negative reaction from clients.
2.  Generic Responses:  Agencies take their standard case histories and copy and paste them into a document versus tailoring the response to a client's specific selection criteria.  When the agency doesn't include the client's name in the response, it feels like they mailed it in.
3.    Depending on old experience or individuals’ experience from the past:  Clients want to see what the agency entity can do, not what individuals have done.  The other mistake is relying on old work.  Clients don't want to see work that is old.  We find that work that is beyond two years old isn't very relevant.  

Keep these three things in mind the next time you answer an RFP.