5 RFP Metrics That Reveal Hidden Costs

You might think your RFP process is “fine.” But if you’re not tracking it, you’re probably leaking time, burning out your SEs, and missing out on faster closes.

Here are five overlooked RFP metrics that expose where you're losing efficiency — and what teams using Iris have done to fix it.

1. Review Cycles Per RFP

What it reveals: How many internal handoffs it takes to finalize a response.

When review cycles drag on, deals stall and teams lose momentum. Every added round adds risk — of context loss, version control issues, or missed deadlines.

With Iris: Teams reduced review cycles from 4.2 to just 1.8.
Fewer loops = faster submissions and less SE babysitting.

2. SE & SME Time on RFPs

What it reveals: How much of your most valuable time is getting sunk into repetitive work.

This is the cost nobody budgets for — but everyone feels. If your Sales Engineers or SMEs are spending half their week on RFPs, they’re not demoing, selling, or taking PTO.

With Iris:

• SE time spent on RFPs dropped from 50% to 12%
• SME involvement reduced by 67%

That’s more time for revenue activities — and actual time off.

3. Answer Reuse Rate

What it reveals: Whether your past work is working for you.

If your team is rewriting the same answer every week, you don’t have a content problem — you have a process problem. Smart reuse is the fastest way to scale.

With Iris: Knowledge reuse increased by 312%.
That means fewer repeats, faster drafts, and less “who owns this answer” chaos.

4. Compliance and Accuracy Metrics

What it reveals: Whether your answers are trusted — by Legal and buyers.

Inconsistent answers can sink deals. In regulated industries, they can also create risk. If your answers vary from doc to doc, you’re signaling unreliability.

With Iris:

• Technical accuracy improved by 34%
• Compliance scores increased by 41%

Better answers build trust — and speed up sign-off.

5. Completion Rate

What it reveals: How many RFPs get started… and dropped.

This is the ultimate cost: the lost opportunity. If your team can’t finish 1 in 5 RFPs, you're not just losing deals — you're wasting resources before they even count.

Industry stat: 20% of RFPs are started and never submitted

With Iris: Teams saw a 4x pipeline increase with no added headcount — because they stopped leaving deals on the table.

How to Start Measuring These Metrics

You don’t need a full audit — just pick your last 5 RFPs and ask:

• How many people were pulled in?
• How many rounds did it take to finalize?
• How much content was reused?
• Did we submit on time?
• What did it cost us in time, not just effort?

Once you measure the cost, it becomes obvious what to fix.

And that’s the key to sustainable efficiency — and PTO that doesn’t come with strings attached.

TL;DR: Track What Matters. Win More. Burn Out Less.

Your SEs shouldn’t have to choose between vacation and velocity.
Measure smarter, automate better — and let your team log off confidently.

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