Due diligence questionnaires are often the bane of peoples’ lives, from sales to security and customer success to compliance.

Filling them in can be a very time-consuming and strenuous exercise, with a lot of disruption to other tasks that feel more important. However, with a bit of preparation and the right tooling, they can be turned into just another predictable and quick business process.

In this blog post, we'll guide you through each phase, helping you identify any gaps in your setup or points on which you can improve.

Preparing for an RFP response or due diligence questionnaire

Before you receive a questionnaire, it's important to have your house in order. The following steps will help you prepare for a smooth process:

Tip 1: Get your documentation ducks in a row

Ensure that your documentation is up to date, easily accessible, and covers all key topics. This typically includes policies, certifications, and past questions. Having a centralized repository for these documents can save you time when responding to DDQs and makes it easier to keep everything up to date and easy to find.

Tip 2: Define roles and responsibilities

One sales rep can’t get a questionnaire over the line by themselves. Work out who is responsible for filling in tricky gaps from every function, including Legal, Security, Compliance, IT, Engineering and HR. Create easy escalation routes so that issues can be resolved promptly.

Tip 3: Assess and implement tools and systems

Invest in tools and systems that will assist you in managing the questionnaire process effectively. Consider implementing a knowledgebase for information management and sharing, automation to generate responses automatically, and human workflow tools. Implement a ticketing system or tooling to track ownership throughout the process. These tools will help you securely share information and retain control over it.

Check out our case study with Omnea and find out how Platformed took RFPs and DDQs from strenuous to straightforward

Responding to RFPs and due diligence questionnaires accurately and quickly

Once you're in the midst of responding to a questionnaire, it’s all about execution and following your established processes:

Tip 4: Avoid mispresentation with accurate information

Don’t misrepresent your company in your responses, even if it’s tempting to do so! Any misrepresentation could have serious consequences down the line. Maintaining a well-structured and easily accessible knowledge base enables your staff to provide accurate information for their responses.

Tip 5: Establish clear ownership within your organization

Designate one clear owner to quarterback the response. This individual should have the authority and permission to chase stakeholders to ensure timely responses. Make sure it’s super clear who this owner is throughout the process so that the questionnaire doesn’t get bogged down — slow responses don’t give a good impression.

Tip 6: Track the status of responses

Implement a system that allows you to track the status of every question in the questionnaire. Ensure that it's always clear who owns the next step for each question. This level of transparency will stop delays or last minute panic.

Discover how Platformed has helped Orbital Witness to speed up its sales cycles and breeze through deals with Platformed Respond

What should you do after responding to an RFP or due diligence questionnaire

The due diligence (DDQ) engagement doesn't end once you've submitted your responses. You’ll want to ensure the customer relationship proceeds on the best footing, and there may be some improvements to your compliance setup or process.

Tip 7: Review and remediate

Review the process to identify any gaps that need to be addressed in the future. These may be new controls or processes, or may just be improved documentation of existing controls. It’s often a challenge to ensure all your documentation keeps up with changes/improvements to your setup.

Tip 8: Ensure any new and fresh information is captured and documented

If subject matter experts (SMEs) have provided fresh information during the engagement, capture this in your knowledge base. This will ensure that your information remains current and accessible for future inquiries. It will also stop your SMEs getting cross when they have to answer the same question in the future! Some knowledge bases can do this automatically, using AI.

Tip 9: Track your commitments and stick to them

Keep a close eye on any commitments made during the questionnaire process, such as Service Level Agreements (SLAs), product roadmap promises, or commitments related to audits and certifications. Tracking these commitments will enable you to proactively communicate them to customers and ensure they are met.

In summary, good preparation and continuous improvement are the keys to a well-run customer questionnaire process, allowing you to communicate trust and credibility to prospective and existing customers and to avoid internal disruption and frustration.

Trusted by innovative brands globally, Platformed is your integrated toolkit to navigate procurement and risk management processes. Platformed automatically builds and maintains a live graph of trust information about your organization, and empowers your team to showcase your trust credentials, respond to trust enquiries, and build trust with enterprises faster than ever before.

If you sell to enterprise organizations and have to balance multiple RFPs and questionnaires per month, Platformed can help to put your procurement pains to bed. Sign up for a demo with our team of experts, or get in touch to find out more.

This is the final instalment of three blogs in our series:

1. An inside look: Due diligence 101 - Delve Into the reasons behind due diligence, its increasing significance, and its role in deal cycles
2. Reaching DDQ-topia: How to get through RFPs and DDQs quickly and painlessly - The impact of RFPs and DDQs on your organization and how can you reduce it
3. Nine tips to navigate RFPs and due diligence questionnaires quickly - Actionable steps to make customer questionnaires quick and predictable

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