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Law360, New York (August 06, 2014, 5:50 PM ET) -- It's no secret that competition among law firms for new business is incredibly fierce. As companies look to spend money as efficiently as possible, procurement departments have increasingly become involved in the process of securing outside legal services.

Enter “requests for proposal," or RFPs: a mechanism that creates a competitive bidding process for choosing law firms that has become increasingly popular in the corporate world. The shift in philosophy is pushing lawyers to adapt and learn how best to create a compelling response that will get a potential client's attention — and business.

“Clients are more sophisticated now in their buying, so they're exploring options more than they ever have before. As an industry, we're all experiencing that,” said Jill Huse, director of marketing and business development for Moore & Van Allen PLLC.

“It used to be that the legal industry was more relationship-driven, but cost has become a big factor because of the pressures clients are facing to control their legal spend,” she said.

Law360 spoke with Huse, Association of Corporate Counsel Vice President and Chief Legal Strategist Amar Sarwal, and Littler Mendleson LLP's Jacob Modla — a former senior executive and deputy general counsel for Family Dollar Stores Inc. — for insight into the potential pitfalls attorneys should avoid in putting together an RFP response.

Here are five mistakes to avoid:

Responding to Everything

The first step is to pick a proposal that you have a realistic shot at being picked for. With the prospect of potential new business and revenue, it's understandable why lawyers might be interested in responding to as many proposals as possible. But this shotgun approach may actually end up working against them.

By being selective, lawyers will not only be able to devote more time and effort to draft a better response but will also be able to make a more compelling case as to why their team would be the best for a particular project, Amar Sarwal said.

General counsel are going to be inundated with responses. The more RFPs a lawyer replies to, the more likely it is that the responses will be generic. And a generic response is unlikely to catch a company's attention.

“It's hard for lawyers because we are trained in school to be generalists, and we are afraid that if we become too specialized, we'll miss out on potential business,” Sarwal said. “But we need to know what matters are in our wheelhouse so we can convey that confidence that we can really deliver.”

“Otherwise, we end up chasing everything and very little because the responses we give will end up being superficial,” he said.

The Kitchen Sink Approach

A challenge lawyers face in trying to craft a successful RFP response is analogous to the temptations some writers feel when pitching a story to an editor: You want to wow them with your idea, so you send them dozens of pages explaining your story and showcasing your writing style. But what editors, and potential clients, really want is for writers and lawyers to stay on point.

Experts said law firms should make sure that their response focuses on the specific issues or projects discussed in the RFP. Brevity is also important. Often, it's difficult to write succinctly about a complex legal issue, but being able to do so will show to a potential client that a firm has command over the subject matter.

Sarwal said it's a sign of “bad lawyering” if a firm is unable to clearly articulate the issues at hand and how to tackle them. He also discouraged law firms from including marketing material or attorney biographies in their proposals, saying responses should be fine-tuned to the particular matter at issue.

Being able to break down legalese is also appreciated by general counsel who have to pass along potential proposals to other corporate executives less familiar with legal jargon.

"When you get an RFP you want your response to be as focused as possible on the client's specific needs," Modla said. “A lot of law firms think they need to respond by the pound. What I mean by that is, if somebody asks you for a response on a specific project or need, you don't have to send them a 50-page treatise."

Overreaching on Price

Setting a reasonable price or fee arrangement is important, but it shouldn't be the only thing law firms use in trying to draft a winning response to an RFP. Moreover, if a response does include a proposed price, the fee should be realistic.

The tug of competition from rival law firms and the pressure to attract new businesses can drive lawyers to set an aggressive price point. Sometimes, the price can be too aggressive and could cause firms problems down the road if they do come out on top of the RFP process.

Modla said lawyers need to be realistic and make sure that the price they offer to clients will work for them and their firm.

"Sometimes, lawyers and firms that really want to do the work get too aggressive with the pricing," Modla said. “They put in a response with a price and then later find out that they can't deliver at that price. You don't want to go back to a client midstream.”

“Companies are going to make decisions based on what's in that response, and they're going to hold you to it,” he said. "Before you submit your response, check yourself. Make sure you're not setting the price at your own expense."

Skimping on Specifics

Read enough BigLaw websites and you're bound to come across these phrases to describe a firm over and over again: The firm is “full service"; the firm has “a deep bench"; the firm is “client first"; the firm has a “collaborative culture." These overused phrases may work on a law firm's website, but lawyers should avoid cliche and instead focus on specific ways they could help a client on the particular matter the client is seeking assistance on.

If the RFP is requesting help on a class action in Ohio, mention in the response any cases dealing with a similar issue that the firm has worked on and offer some analysis on how that experience can be used to help the client in their matter. While attorneys may be hesitant to do so, lawyers should — if possible — include some of their proposed legal strategy in their RFP response. If you believe, for example, that you could defeat a bid for class certification, explain why, Sarwal said.

Chief financial officers and other corporate executives are looking for predictability. They want to know how much a case will cost and how quickly it can be resolved, Sarwal said. General counsel want to have accurate estimates on the cost of the case and how long it would take until it's resolved.

Huse said information in an RFP should also highlight what makes a specific law firm unique. Moore & Van Allen has several accountants on staff who are familiar with the business side and legal side and can help serve as a bridge with clients, she said. The firm's IP group also boasts attorneys who also have backgrounds in engineering.

This type of information can help a law firm stick out in a sea of proposals, Huse said.

“You need to try and customize your response to differentiate your firm from the competition and not rely on generic text that can be found on your website,” Huse said. “By customizing your answers, you can show the client that you took the time to understand their business and demonstrate that you really care about the relationship."

Forgetting a Phone Call

Before responding to an RFP, it's important to try and speak to someone at the company to get more background into the legal matter they are seeking help with. Besides helping to build a working relationship with a potential client, a conversation can help attorneys perform due diligence on the company and the issue at hand.

It's not unusual for a business to produce what is, essentially, a boilerplate RFP that provides little in the way of salient information on the company or the specific legal matter it is requesting outside help on. Speaking with the people who actually wrote the RFP, then, is invaluable in determining whether you and your law firm are well suited to respond to the request.

Speaking to someone in person or over the phone is also an important way to stand out from other lawyers and firms that are going to be responding to an RFP. Huse said taking the time to speak with someone is a way to show that you take the RFP seriously and an important first step to developing trust between yourself and a potential client.