The teams winning 70% of their RFPs aren't better writers—they're architects of the entire buying process, shaping requirements months before an RFP exists.
Why Discovery Is Your Only Shot at a Fair Fight
When prospective clients draft RFP requirements, they're not envisioning the future. They're documenting the past. Those 47 requirements for reporting capabilities? That's their current broken system talking. The mandate for specific integration protocols? That's their IT team protecting what they know.
The hard truth most sales teams miss: that RFP was shaped months before it was published. And the company that shaped it? They're going to win it.
Companies transform their win rates by recognizing a simple truth: customers don't actually know what they need. They know their current pain, their current processes, and their current limitations. But they rarely understand what's possible.
This creates your opening. During discovery—those early conversations where you're supposedly just "learning about their needs"—you're actually in the driver's seat of the entire RFP process.
The Prescription Advantage: Leading Without Overstepping
The most successful pre-sales teams have mastered what we call prescriptive discovery. Instead of asking "What are your requirements?", they lead with "Here's what we typically see work for companies facing your challenge."
This shift changes everything. You're no longer a vendor waiting for instructions. You're a trusted advisor shaping the customer's understanding of their own problem.
Take one example from the field: A solutions consultant was working with a company looking to replace their performance management system. Instead of asking about their current review process, she reframed the entire conversation: "Most forward-thinking companies are moving away from annual reviews entirely. Would you be interested in exploring continuous feedback models?"
That single question shifted months of RFP preparation. The requirements that eventually went out? They included "continuous feedback capabilities" and "real-time recognition features"—specifications that eliminated half the competition before proposals were even submitted.
Your Discovery Playbook: Five Moves That Shape Requirements
1. Plant the Vision Early
Don't wait for the customer to define success. In your first discovery call, share a compelling vision of what their future state could look like. Use phrases like "imagine if your team could..." or "what if you never had to..." These seeds grow into requirements.
2. Question the Sacred Cows
When customers mention existing processes, challenge them gently: "Is that working well for you, or is it just how it's always been done?" This opens the door to requirements that favor innovation over replication.
3. Leave Behind Artifacts
After each discovery session, send a summary that includes "considerations for your evaluation." These aren't requirements—they're suggestions. But guess what appears verbatim in RFPs three months later? Those exact considerations.
4. Introduce New Categories
If you excel at something competitors don't even consider, make it a category. "Have you thought about how AI could accelerate this proposal process?" suddenly becomes a scored section in their RFP.
5. Create Urgency Around Differentiation
When you identify a unique strength, tie it to a business risk: "Companies without automated compliance checking typically face 3x more audit issues." Watch that become a mandatory requirement.
The Ethical Line: Influence Without Manipulation
Let's be clear about something: we're not talking about rigging the game. We're talking about education. Your customers genuinely don't know what they don't know. By sharing insights from hundreds of similar implementations, you're helping them make better decisions.
The ethical test is simple: Are you helping them solve their problem better, or are you just trying to win? If your influenced requirements lead to better outcomes for the customer, you're doing it right.
We've seen teams use this approach to help customers avoid costly mistakes. One company was about to require on-premise deployment—a massive undertaking—simply because that's what they'd always done. A skilled pre-sales consultant helped them understand the security and scalability advantages of cloud deployment. The requirement changed, the customer saved six figures, and yes, our consultant's company won the deal.
The Leave-Behind Language That Sticks
Words matter in discovery. The language you use today becomes the requirements language tomorrow. Here are phrases that consistently make their way from discovery conversations into RFPs:
"Best-in-class solutions typically include..."
"Industry leaders are prioritizing..."
"To future-proof this investment, you'll want..."
"The most successful implementations we've seen have..."
These aren't aggressive sales tactics. They're educational frameworks that help customers think beyond their current state.
When You've Already Lost: The Hail Mary Play
Sometimes you get an RFP that's clearly been shaped by someone else. You're looking at requirements that seem designed to exclude you. Most teams either decline to bid or submit a compliant but losing proposal.
Here's the move that actually works: Request a "clarification session" and use it to professionally challenge the requirements. Come prepared with data, case studies, and a compelling vision that makes their current requirements look outdated.
"We noticed your requirements focus heavily on annual review processes. We'd love to share some data on why 70% of Fortune 500 companies are moving away from this model. Would you be open to considering alternative approaches that might better serve your stated goals?"
You'll lose most of these battles. But when you win one? You don't just win the deal—you transform a customer's entire approach to proposal evaluation.
Discovery Questions That Shape Tomorrow's RFPs
Stop asking "What features do you need?" Start asking questions that position your strengths:
"How important is it that your team can start using this without extensive training?"
"What would it mean if you could cut your RFP response time by 60%?"
"Have you considered how AI could eliminate the manual work in your proposal process?"
Each question plants a seed. Each seed can become a requirement. Each requirement can become your competitive advantage.
The Compound Effect of Shaped Requirements
Here's what happens when you master pre-RFP influence: You stop competing on price. You stop defending against unfair requirements. You stop losing deals you should have won.
Instead, you compete on vision. You define the playing field. You help customers see possibilities they never imagined.
We work with teams that have transformed their win rates from 30% to 70% without changing their product, their pricing, or their proposal process. They just got better at the conversation before the conversation.
The next time you're in discovery, remember: You're not just gathering requirements. You're authoring them. The questions you ask, the vision you paint, the language you use—these become the RFP that gets published months later.
And when that RFP lands on your desk? It won't feel like a surprise attack. It'll feel like coming home.
The most successful pre-sales teams improve their RFP win rates by shaping requirements during discovery, not by writing better responses. By helping customers understand what's possible rather than what exists, you can influence the entire buying process months before an RFP is published.
Discovery isn't preparation for the RFP. Discovery is where the RFP gets written. Make sure you're holding the pen.
Frequently Asked Questions About Shaping RFP Requirements
How early should we engage with prospects to influence RFP requirements?
Ideally, you want to engage 3-6 months before an RFP is published. This is when organizations are determining their needs and evaluating potential solutions at a high level. Early involvement gives you the opportunity to shape their thinking about what's possible.
What if we're brought in after requirements are already written?
Request a "clarification session" where you can respectfully challenge assumptions and introduce new considerations. While more difficult, we've seen win rates improve by 25% when teams skillfully reframe requirements even at this late stage.
How do we balance influencing requirements without appearing manipulative?
Focus on customer outcomes, not your product features. When you genuinely help customers understand innovative approaches that better solve their problems—even if they benefit you—you're providing value, not manipulation.
What's the single most effective question to ask during discovery?
Turning discovery into advantage only works if the ideas you plant show up in the work. Trampoline helps teams capture those insights and carry them through to the RFP and the final proposal.
Save discovery notes as reusable “considerations for your evaluation.” Standardize the language you want to see in future RFPs.
When the RFP drops, Trampoline turns it into a board with every requirement as a card. Nothing gets missed. Owners and deadlines are clear.
Use the AI side panel to pull past answers that match the categories you introduced. Keep tone and messaging consistent.
Prepare for clarification sessions with fast gap analyses and a compliance matrix. Surface supporting examples from previous wins in seconds.
Draft, review, and compile the final proposal from validated cards with the Writer extension. Export in the format the buyer expects.
Give sales and pre-sales quick access to the same knowledge in their browser. Answer security questionnaires and emails with confidence.
We have seen teams keep their discovery narrative intact through to submission with this setup. Less rework. Fewer surprises. More proposals that read like the vision you shaped at the start.