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Step 2: Overview of the solicitation process

Run Xu
  • Updated

 

Below is a brief overview of the Solicitation Process. Please note, this service is only available to clients who have subscribed to the program.  For details on each step, please click on the hyperlinks in blue.

Stage 1: Pre-Solicitation (up to 1 month)

  1. Establish your vendor list with relevant contact information at the Target and at your own company
  2. Gather the information needed to start the solicitation
  3. Refine your introduction letter to the Target, using our standard letter as a base
  4. Set up the Solicitation Request Portal to automate your initiations

We offer a complimentary segmentation service (identifying publics versus privates) at the start of every relationship year that can help with Step 1. Contact your Client Services rep for more information

Stage 2: Solicitation (a few days - 2 months)

  1. Initiate a solicitation using our 2-step process. If you've established the portal, this just means filling in a few fields

  2. Within 2-3 business days, the case is assigned to an analyst on our Network Outreach team, who reaches out to your Target to provide credentials to a secure upload center, and will guide them through the process

  3. We follow up with your suppliers at least once a week. You can check on the status in a couple ways

  4. If a supplier is unresponsive to six messages and two phone calls, we will escalate the case back to the Relationship Manager at your company

  5. We have a global success rate of 85% with an average of 39 days to win

Stage 3:  Production (1 - 3 business days)

  1. Our Data Analysis team vets vendors' financials, performs Quality Assurance, and then enters them directly into our secure database

  2. RapidRatings produces FHR reports (along with our other products), uploads results to your portfolios, and notifies your users

Stage 4: Refresh (Ongoing)

  1. An update to private company ratings is called a refresh, and counts as a discrete solicitation. Simply let us know that you'd like to update a company (no 2-step process required)

  2. We also offer a complimentary refresh service that provides you with a list of outdated ratings twice a year. We will reach out to collect new data without any additional effort from you, unless you specify otherwise

If we have not successfully rated a company in the past despite you soliciting them, we will ask you to re-initiate via the 2-step process, to ensure that we get a warm introduction

Ready to start? Check out Step 3: How to initiate 

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