Steps 1 and 2
1. Identify your practical needs
Do you need a big brain, tech savants, masters of media, social media experimenters, an army of coders, or just reliable arms and legs to execute your strategy, compensate for your too-lean staff, or interface with your IT guys? Understanding the real need and the division of labor between you and your agency is the first step in the RFP process. Be clear about how much control, direction, and outsourcing you intend to do.
Next, recognize that different agencies have different levels of name recognition, positioning, and points of origin that shape their competence, their processes, their ability to engage, and their price. No single agency is great at everything. Every agency has its core competencies and its good and bad days.
2. Don't re-fight the last war
Often RFPs seek to overcome and compensate for the failures and disappointments with a current agency. Yet, be careful not to overvalue or overcorrect for these specific issues, as they are likely to be a product of a particular agency-client pathology -- partly a result of your technical, political, personality, or marketing landscape and partly a matter of casting, chemistry, timing, or emphasis by the agency.
Focus on the mission (i.e., what needs to be done). Do you need a dramatic increase in market share, an improvement in ecommerce conversion, regular technical tweaks, media optimization, a more systematic and integrated campaign management approach, or a complete brand re-stage? The task required compared with the state of the business ought to be the prime directive in shaping your agency search.
