An RFP is a late-stage signal, not a starting gun
An RFP tells you a purchase is funded and moving. It does not tell you the race is open. Most B2B buyers run informal evaluations long before procurement formalizes anything, so the RFP often records a choice the buyer has already mostly made. Whoever shaped the requirements during those early conversations wrote half the questions you are now answering. If you are reading the criteria for the first time, someone else set them.
An inbound RFP with no prior relationship is a weaker signal than it looks. An RFP that follows months of discovery calls where you influenced the criteria is strong. An RFP that arrives cold, addressed to "the vendor," with a two-week deadline, is a warning.
How to read whether you are column fodder
Column fodder is a vendor invited only to fill a column in the buyer's comparison spreadsheet. Procurement often requires three bids, and the buyer already knows which one wins. The extra vendors exist to satisfy the rule and to squeeze the front-runner on price. Signs you are one of them:
- The RFP arrives cold, with no earlier conversations and no named champion. - Requirements read like a competitor's spec sheet, down to feature names only one product uses. - You are routed to procurement and cannot get time with the economic buyer. - The timeline is short and the questions center on price and checkboxes rather than fit. - The incumbent is named or obvious, and the scope protects its position.
ORM's read on deal signals applies here. The earliest warning is the absence of a signal. The buyer stops replying, and the deal record stops changing. When no one will engage on fit, the RFP is process, not interest.
What an RFP deal does to your forecast
A won-looking RFP inflates the pipeline. Reps mark it commit because it feels formal, and coverage looks healthy. The trouble shows up at close. Of the pipeline dated to close in a quarter, measured on day one, ORM sees only about 20 percent actually close that quarter, and deals routinely close for less than their recorded value. A column-fodder RFP carries that risk and more, because you often cannot verify the deal at all. That is a pipeline quality problem wearing a formal document.
Qualify before you respond. Confirm there is a real budget and a decision maker who will talk to you. Ask whether you shaped any of the requirements. If the answers are no, tag the deal low probability and price your time accordingly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an RFP a good sign for a deal?
An RFP means a buyer is close to a decision, so it reads as a strong late-stage signal. It does not tell you whether you are the front-runner or a required extra bid. Treat an unsolicited RFP with no prior relationship as neutral until you confirm access to the real decision maker.
What does column fodder mean in sales?
Column fodder is a vendor invited into an RFP only to satisfy a procurement rule that requires several bids, or to give the buyer pricing leverage over the vendor it already prefers. You fill a column in the comparison spreadsheet without a real chance to win.
How do you know if you are column fodder in an RFP?
Look for a cold RFP with no earlier conversations, requirements that match one competitor's feature set, a short turnaround, and a procurement gatekeeper who blocks access to the economic buyer. The clearest tell is silence. If no one will take a call to discuss fit, you are there to make the process look competitive.
Should you respond to every RFP?
No. A full response costs real time and can load your pipeline with deals that close at low rates. Qualify first. If you had no relationship before the RFP and cannot reach a decision maker, the expected return rarely justifies a custom proposal.
Put these metrics to work
ORM builds custom revenue forecast models that turn concepts like request for proposal (rfp) into prescriptive action for your team.
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