RFPs (Request for Proposal) are industry standard in marketing, communication and other consulting service-type organizations in the business world. But lately, as I've looked over a dozen or so that have been sent my way in the past few weeks, I've discovered something intriguing about them...

They're evil.

The RFPs I've gotten (with the exception of a few wholly reasonable and respectable requests) typically follow a structure designed to grill and intimidate smaller companies and individual consultants while rewarding needless paperwork and excessive self-promotion (an area where many of the worst large firms are particularly skilled). Here's some traits of a few RFPs we've received that highlight the worst of these:

• List ten companies in our sector/field that you've worked with, what you've done for them, how long the success took, how you measured it and what the results were.
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  News flash - that's all confidential information, right down to the names of most of our clients (only about 10-15% of SEO clients in my experience are willing to share their company name publically, or even privately as part of your marketing). I won't even go into why it might not be a good idea to work with an SEO who's done jobs for ten (ironic number, no?) of your direct competitors.
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• Describe, in detail, how this project will be completed, how many in-house and outsourced workers will assist, how many hours each will put into the project and a map of the time schedules over the course of the work.
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  Once again, this is all private, internal information. I should send out an RFP like this to the top 20 SEO firms just so I know exactly how to compete against every one.
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•  List the techniques and processes your time will use to accomplish the goals. Include specific details and provide sources of research/reference that prove the effectiveness of your methodology.
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  Yeah... right.

RFPs, when done right, should provide about as much information as a personal email, written by the executive or team who needs the work done. It should tell the vendor what the goals are, what the time frame is and the criteria used to judge potential vendors. From there, the proposal that shows the best creativity and price can be weighed against the trust and reputation of the firm and the right provider can be selected.

In a world like that, great vendors get the projects and SEO chop-shops with nothing but a savvy sales team doesn't reap the rewards of their BS-ing ability. But, sadly, we live in the corporate world of RFPs. So, if you're wondering why SEOmoz (or ten other folks you contacted off my recommended list) isn't bidding your project, wonder no more.