For the past three years I've been living in London, establishing Reactive's office there. Since returning to Melbourne two months ago, something has struck me as very strange; why do Australian clients expect proposal responses within only one week?

Although it's certainly not always the case, about half of the new opportunities that cross my desk give a one week deadline. For existing clients, where we have a solid understanding of their wider business it’s no problem. But for a client we've never met? That is what we call 'shortcutting the process'. Invariably these are major projects too, with good budgets, great brands and knowledgeable clients.

Now, I don't remember this always being the case. Certainly it wasn't during my time running our digital agency's London office. I have been trying to work out why this is; has Melbourne suddenly become more fast-paced than London? Is the Australian calendar week longer than in London? Or perhaps a more pragmatic answer is that in tough economic times Marketing departments want to hurriedly make decisions and spend budgets before they're taken away?

I don't wish to complain, rather explain some of the benefits that a longer tender process can yield. There are many benefits to clients for allowing digital agencies more time to reply to your RFP or RFQ. If you’re about to put out an RFP/Q and putting the pressure on yourself / your team to meet an internal deadline perhaps you should consider some of the benefits of allowing a longer lead time;

- Get more free stuff! The more time we have, the more thought goes into our solution, and the more time we have to realise this as ideas, strategy, mock-ups etc. You're getting our thinking for free (although we'd love it if you paid us, and sometimes clients do), so make the most of it.

- We want to meet you. Our proposal and approach is normally twice as good if we have the opportunity to meet in person and discuss the project. One week is seldom enough time to arrange a meeting, and then put together a considered response.

- A better response from all. Request for proposals are normally sent to several digital agencies (please clients, no more than four!). Each will have varying degrees of work pressure on during that designated week. By only allowing one week, you'll get the most thorough (but not necessarily the best) reply from the digital agency that has the most time on their hands. With a longer period to reply, you're leveling the playing field, and this will help ensure you're choosing the right agency.

- Save time in the long run. Our additional time spent researching, speaking with you and putting considered strategy together can easily save the same time once the project begins. It's entirely possible to shave one week off the Requirements Gathering stage, as we've already started this as part of our proposal.

- A better outcome. With short timeframes to respond, digital agencies may be forced to take a 'templated' approach. i.e. re-use an existing proposal (for another client) that closely matches your requirements. Although receiving a template proposal is no sin, receiving a template solution is.


In my opinion, two to three weeks is a comfortable amount of time to reply with a thorough, considered and insightful proposal that fits the brief. Clients receive more by allowing more time, and your shortlist of digital agencies will thank you for it.

Tim O'Neill, Joint Managing Director

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