Request For Proposal Video Production Rfp Contract: Fill & Download for Free

The first factor is to figure out if the company needs a video and what the goal of the video is. Then comes what kind of budget can the company devote to the project.Ideally the company should match goals, budget and production company skills. For example If the video covering a small event and there is very little money available for the video then no use contacting a production company that routinely does high end corporate productions and commercials. Also no use contracting a primarily wedding video company to create a super slick 3 minute high tech video for selling stuff to NASA. Then as Ric Lawes says do some research and come up with a short list.Contact each company with an RFP (request for proposal) this contains all relevent details about the proposed video project. Purpose, goals, Time frame, contact list and sometimes budget range. Sometimes an RFP does not contain a budget and the company can then average the quotes to get an idea of what a video might cost.Videos done well are very expensive. I think the costs quite often surprise people. There is specialized knowlege, equipment and lots of time needed for each minute of screen time.I had an interesting RFP for 12 short videos recently for a large venue awards show. There was no budget listed in the RFP so I asked the company if they could tell me what their budget range was. They said they couldn't tell me the exact budget but with a laugh said "well it's not 10 grand!" Good I thought, we can both agree that ten thousand dollars for 12 videos was ridiculous!. What I hadn't realized is that they thought 10 grand was jokingly way too high and we thought 10 grand was jokingly way too low!We submitted a proposal that was seven times larger than what they were looking for! Needless to say it was a missmatch.There is a very large range of prices and capabilities of production companies so it is important to try and match budgets, goals and capabilities as much as possible. Ask lots of questions, don't assume anything and try to not be surprised by the sticker shock.

Every business will find their first client in their own unique way within a short time or many years from day one. One founder can also start multiple businesses with each having their own story of finding that critical first client. The following list of how a first paying customer/client can be found and acquired is based on my first hand experiences, from observing others and speculation of what might possibly work.Chance: things happen when you least expect them. Chance encounters on a train, doctor's office or family event can be one of the best ways to engage that first client. You and the potential client are not in business mode and can take advantage of a casual conversation to tell your story in a much more personal and memorable manner.Cold Call/Email: this is not the most efficient or easiest manner to find a first customer but it is straight forward and you will learn a variety of the things that people like or do not like about your product/idea. It is time consuming but relatively inexpensive if you have a well defined customer list.Warm Reference: you should have a potential market or customer group identified before you begin approaching potential first clients. Ask people in your LinkedIn network to provide a known contact that they believe could potentially benefit from your product. A warm reference increases your chances of being heard and immediately trusted from the get go.Unsolicited Recommendation: the more people you talk to and interact with regarding your product the more likely it will be that those people will tell others if you have a compelling story/solution that meets a need. Get your pitch down so that others can easily repeat it for you to others. This approach recently helped me close a first client which came with 4.5 million end users.Organic Search to a Website: ranking high on search is not the easiest method to acquire a customer but it is essential for consumer type products. Spend time to get your web design and SEO optimized for the customers that need your product.Pay Per Click Campaign: if you have a well designed and user friendly online sales channel then pay per click could be a straight forward way to acquire a consumer customer in a short period of time. It is not trivial to put together a PPC campaign on Adwords/Facebook/LinkedIn etc but it is effective and quick if done well.Buy a Lead: not recommended if you are inexperienced with sales given it is expensive and not guaranteed but I have had some success especially if you know what to watch out for and if your product solves an urgent need such as with security or compliance based products.Public Presentation: present publicly in person (meetups, conferences, pitches etc...) or on the web (Quora, LinkedIn, blogs etc...) and become known as an expert in your area of business. This can reduce sales cycle time otherwise spent on gaining customer trust and confidence in your company's abilities.Free Trial: some products such as software or food are ideal for free trials as it provides the customer confidence that they are getting exactly what they are in need of especially if no one else has ever used it. Get the product into your first customer's hands as soon as possible. At that point you can follow up in any number of ways to close the deal.Matchmaking Event: the Small Business Administration and other organizations have matchmaking events which pair prospective customers such as government organizations with vendors. You sign up and do a speed dating type of interview with one or more organizations. Check out the local SBA calendars for upcoming events.Vendor Portal: most businesses and government organizations have websites that are specifically made to inform companies of what services and products a company needs. They will often provide detailed information in the form of RFP's (Request for Proposals) and make the process open to the public although there will be a high level of competition for the contracts. This comes with mixed results for a first time vendor as they often are looking for client references for some of the larger contract opportunities.Prime Contractor: large companies often need to subcontract a portion of the work they bid on to smaller entities either due to compliance reasons or lack of expertise. For example, a road construction company may need custom software development to complete a 5 year contract with a city government. Get to know those prime folks and develop working relationships for future opportunities. Register on government portals like http://sam.gov since prime contractors often have to look at those portals for approved subcontractors.Advisory Board: your advisory board, either through an accelerator or a personal group of advisors is there to help you figure out who your target customer/market is. They are also ideal matchmakers with an interest in our success. They will help you find the first client if not introduce you themselves.Social Media: do it regularly, mention others, tag content appropriately, maintain professional etiquette, use images, basically always be out there with something useful to potential clients.Video Content: explainer videos help drive your product and company message visually, directly and in a short passive medium increasing your chances of the client finding you. Video content on YouTube also increases your chances of being found through search since video results are displayed at the top of Google web search results. Folks are also more likely to watch a short video than read a sales letter/deck.Sales Intelligence Software/Data: there are a number of sales intelligence information vendors that have a variety of very useful data sets on companies. These data sets can include org charts, current/upcoming projects, technology stacks that allow you to determine/assess if a company would be a potential client. This can be expensive but sometimes necessary depending on what market you are in.EDGAR: the SEC posts information about public companies that can be used to research and qualify potential clients. It will give you budgets, income statements, balance sheets and a detailed description of what the company will focus on this year and what issues are the most important at that period of time. Link: EDGAR | Search ToolsClient Perspective: think like the client and ask where you would look for solutions to your problem.

I barely squeaked through high-school math, how can I develop my strategic weapon invention/idea?You're going to have to at least have a proof of concept. An animated video would be a starter. Plenty of graphic and animation designers out there. Let me refer you to an answer to a similiar question I answeredHow could one forward new weaponry ideas? Should I prototype it first?First things first. If what you have “in an idea” is just a theory, a concept and no real application, you do need to find a good patent attorney. First thing is to find if your invention has already been patented. If so, your idea is for naught.Inventors and entrepreneurs who are looking to cut costs frequently want to do their own patent search. This is a wise first move, but inventors need to be careful. It is quite common for inventors to do a patent search and find nothing even when there are things that could and would be found by a professional searcher. So while it makes sense to do your own search first, be careful relying on your own search to justify spending the thousands of dollars you will need to spend to ultimately obtain a patent. However, there are reputable firms that are very good at this stuff and there is simply no comparison between a patent search done by an inventor and a patent search done by a professional searcher You mentioned the USA, but other countries have patent laws too. More at Patent Searching 101: A Patent Search Tutorial - IPWatchdog.com | Patents & Patent Law - Patents, Software Patents, Patent Applications & Patent Law | Patents & Patent LawNot necessarily in this order, but find out what the government (DoD) is looking for in new and innovative projects. Try DARPA OpportunitiesOther area publications that will assist you in finding out just what the goverment is soliciting bids for is Federal Business Opportunities Federal Business Opportunities or commercial subscription services like Get Notified of RFP's & Government Contracts Get Notified of RFP's & Government ContractsBe sure you are legally free to patent or sell your concept: i.e. It wasn't developed on while working for a foreign government or US company on a similiar project.Normally the government doesn't buy concepts or built products. They will outsource to a private firm the prototype and production through the bid and proposal selection.Generally, no matter what invention you have, depending on the scope, dealing with a goverment agency, without a patent or a experienced marketing person is useless. With out a patent, even if you have developed a way to change lead into gold, your idea will advertised by the government as an R&D project and some contractor with the resources will patent your idea and submit a technical proposal, all of which depends on your idea’s possible feasibility, need and potential profitability. Ideally the government will advertise for firms to respond to a request for Proposal (RFP) with pricing information for the production of X number of your lead to gold machines. And you will receive a handshake for your efforts and maybe a cup of coffee.Best bet: get a good patent attorney, who will specify what you need to do patent wise. Then rather than try and finance and manufacture it yourself, sell your patent outright to an experienced company (with the professional help of a good lawyer oryour marketing representative) and bet on getting a good percent of the company’s future $$$ sales. And return to your lab and think up some more stuff to patent albeit a little wealthier.