Kirsty Antrobus, Senior Commercial Lead, reflects on our 2025 RFQ learnings, and how they have shaped BEAM’s approach to crafting the perfect RFQ responses for 2026.
Recognising Reality
During the first half of 2025 we had a real RFQ realisation at BEAM.
Commissions were down, declines were up, and the period of ghosting from research agency clients was stretching further and further before hearing that it “wasn’t a win” or “our client has cancelled the project”.
Across the globe, economic fragility, political uncertainty, evolving regulation, and accelerating technology drove real uncertainty. Big brands cut their marketing and research budgets, big industry players were adopting a “wait-and-see” approach to commissions.
End clients and research agencies were feeling the squeeze, and we felt it too.
Pressure Down the Chain
A review of the RFQ activity we’d received for Q1 2025 revealed ‘a never-before-seen’ by BEAM. We’d (respectfully) declined to submit a quotation response for almost 50% more RFQs than we had in the same period, 12 months before.
The RFQs opportunities all had a common theme – all were harder, faster, and all with increasing levels of risk for us to achieve and deliver a return on investment for our clients.
Reading Between the Lines
The real challenge we faced into was decoding these RFQs at speed, and having the foresight to see the end reality of the RFQ, before starting to work on a quotation.
On the surface, every RFQ can look straightforward. In reality, they often hide complications, tight incidence rates, timelines without enough flex to satisfy everyone, and vague recruitment criteria, which only reveal themselves mid-project. Meanwhile, the cost of delivering complexity, speed, and high-quality recruitment continues to rise.
The ‘true ask’ of the RFQ can come with hidden risks.
Changing Perspective
We know that relationship-building still matters to our clients, but it’s no longer enough. We’ve moved towards greater transparency in our prices, put more focus on verification, and strived to show predictable value, by being explicit about what delivery really takes, and what risk looks like by conceding when finding a compromise would deliver mutual success. That honesty has become a differentiator, not a barrier.
Looking Beyond the Brief
When an RFQ lands, we look past the stated requirements to uncover the why behind the research goals. Only then can we evaluate how our learned experience can genuinely deliver the intended outcome.
Decoding the “True” Objective
We identify the underlying business driver, not just the task. We look for pain points, the things that aren’t working, and treat them as gold dust. And we distinguish demographics from behaviours, focusing on how audiences think, hesitate, or misinterpret, not just who they are.
Where Risk Really Lives
In our quote responses, we explicitly address and include ways to combat common research, recruitment, and fieldwork risks, because omitting them creates a false economy:
- We investigate feasibility and true incidence rates, avoiding miscalculation by “seeing the end before the start.”
- We challenge vague recruitment criteria, asking the right questions to surface what’s missing.
- We verify participants to prevent unqualified respondents slipping through.
- We plan for dropouts and no-shows.
- We assess participant availability, incentives, and the accuracy of customer lists.
- We reality-check timelines, ensure compliance and data protection, and operate with full transparency.
- And we lean into human-centric project management, adding control, validation, and accountability throughout delivery.
Final Thoughts
The real question isn’t about cost, it’s about consequence. Saving now can feel sensible, but failure to act, or acting on flawed assumptions, often costs far more later.
If you’ve got upcoming RFQs and want a partner who’ll be straight with you about risk and return, we’d love to help.
Get in touch with us, or let’s jump on a call. We’re ready and raring to talk through your next project.