A question I’m asked a lot is: “How can we sell value when RFPs prevent us from talking to decision-makers?”

It’s a fair question. RFPs and other bidding environments are often specifically designed to strip value from price—creating a wall between your best differentiators and the procurement teams who “only care about low cost.” In the production inkjet world, where speed, quality, and efficiency are key, blindly competing in RFPs can be a race to the bottom.

Let’s explore two scenarios—and what to do in each.

Case #1: The Wall is Truly Impenetrable

In some RFPs, there’s zero opportunity to communicate value—no access to decision-makers, no dialogue, just an online submission. These RFPs favor bottom-feeders—the cheapest providers, regardless of quality.

If you’re a best-in-class production inkjet print service provider, you’ll rarely win these unless you’re willing to slash margins. And that raises a bigger question: How much time, money, and effort are you wasting chasing unwinnable RFPs? The cost of swimming in these shark-infested waters is enormous.

The solution? Qualify! Always qualify. Like you mean it. Disqualify bad opportunities. Quickly. Fail fast. Set strict go/no-go criteria for RFP participation. Don’t spend weeks or months chasing a terrible project with poor odds.

Because of the terrible odds of winning, it is in your best interest to submit “impenetrable wall” RFPs as little as possible and only under very specific criteria.

Case #2: The Wall Isn’t As Solid As It Seems

Sometimes in an RFP, there is some opportunity to exert influence and sell value, although procurement will never tell you that! Maybe you have:

•  An existing relationship with the customer

• An internal champion who values your work

• A way to engage stakeholders beyond procurement

Customers don’t always choose the lowest bid. In my 20+ years in pricing, I’ve seen hundreds of RFPs where a higher-priced provider won because they proved greater value. Some companies even issue RFPs already knowing who they’ll choose—using the process to pressure their preferred print service provider into a lower price.

The solution? Qualify and sell value relentlessly! Once again: qualify rigorously. Disqualify bad opportunities quickly. Then sell value relentlessly to anyone you can reach in the decision-making process. Stay close to your internal champions. Make every interaction count. Use every touchpoint to highlight speed, flexibility, quality, and efficiency—inkjet’s biggest strengths. Shift the focus from unit price to total cost of ownership. Procurement may chase the lowest bid, but operations teams care about print consistency and quality, reduced waste, and meeting deadlines.

Winning RFPs at Profitable Prices

• Use a qualification process. If you don’t have one, build one.  If the RFP is purely price-driven, walk away unless you can meet the price without gutting your margins.

•  If there’s any opportunity to showcase value, lean into it hard—because winning at a premium price is possible.

Bottom line: RFPs don’t have to be a race to the bottom—if you know when to walk away and when (and how) to push forward.