Touch and Feel

Six different fighter jets from six different vendors will be flown by Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots in the process of evaluating an RFP. I wish the RFPs I get to work in were half as hair raising and exciting. 

Anyway, why does the IAF want to go through all this trouble? Because touch and feel is different from reading about something. This is the case not only in the case of fighter jets, but even in the case of an inane proposal for a web site development. The customer would love to touch and feel something beyond MS office documents. 

How do we give them that? You could build a prototype if you can afford to. You could demo them your software and let them play around with it. You could let them meet your project team - hey, even that is a kind of touch and feel. You could give them a sense of touch and feel by an elaborate walkthrough (not presentation) of your project plan. You could help them visualize remote delivery, for example. You could show them videos of your product in use....your tool running...whatever. 

Never underestimate the power of the touch and feel in responding to a bid. Having said that, invariably, only one or two vendors in any bid make the effort to tap touch and feel. Except when, like the IAF, the customer asks for the touch and feel experience.  

Though people buy shoes and even cars online, most buyers still like to touch and feel what they are buying. It is our job as bid managers to never ignore this and to always find creative ways to give the customer a Touch and Feel of whatever it is you are selling.