Asking the right question is critical in RFPs, but asking them in the right way can boost efficiency, as well as time and cost saving. As we’ve already explained in our post 'Free-text vs. single choice vs. multiple-choice questions in a RFP', Prokuria offers 3 types of questions.
Let’s now explore which one you should choose in a real-life scenario: assuming you are doing an RFP, and you need to find out how your supplier can offer support ( be it by phone, email, chat, etc), you can ask this questions in 3 different ways.
1. Free-Text Question
Question: Please describe your company’s support offering.
Answer: free-text
This question will invite a very general answer, covering product documentation, website support, phone support, 24/7 availability and so on. They can also provide additional details and emphasize the parts they consider of particular importance.
The buyer might view some of these things as important, and others as not. There is no way, however, of reflecting these priorities through only one question.
2. Multiple Choice Question
Question: Please select your company’s support offering: Answers:
product documentation
website support
phone support
24/7 availability
With this question you will have structured data very easy to analyze and compare. Also it will be very easy and fast for you suppliers to respond.
3. Series of Single Choice Questions
Question 1: Do you have product documentation?
Answers:
Yes
No
Question 2: Do you have website support ?
Answers:
Yes
No
Question 3: Do you have phone support ?
Answers:
Yes
No
Question 4: Do you have 24/7 availability?
Answers:
Yes
No
This questions will required slightly more time from the suppliers, but the data is perfectly structured. it is very useful if you need to create fast statistics or scoring cards for suppliers.
With Prokuria you can easily select between all these types of questions, turning your RFPs into efficient and successful sourcing events.