by Laura Busby
Warning this blog may contain typos and the odd piece of poor grammar. Why? Because it’s written by me. A human prone to making mistakes. In a working world rapidly changing with AI, I’ve been pondering the question on how this will affect the TMC RFP process.
What hopefully you will discover in this blog is some real opinion on the contentious topic of the TMC RFP. My career in TMC sales spans nearly 15 years and throughout this time I’ve participated in hundreds of buying processes, suffered some hard losses and won the odd few.
Disclaimer I’m a huge fan of AI, as an admin shy commercial person. But will AI really change how buyers make decisions?
I generally work from the principle that you have to have 3 things right to win.
People
Does the client connect with your people? Is there some element of cultural alignment? Have we taken time to deeply understand the clients needs? Ultimately, do they LIKE you?
Product
Will your tools and services deliver a slick travel management solution to their business? Is it compelling enough to go through a period of change and embedding through implementation?
Commercials
Does the client feel they get value? Note to clients If you’re purely looking at transaction fees, you’re missing a huge trick.
There’s an argument to be had that a formal written process won’t fully uncover these 3 elements. So how do you balance a formal written process with lets face it, AI used on both sides with human interaction?
Top 5 tips on conducting a successful travel RFP process
Align your internal stakeholders before going out to market. What does good look like for the business, travellers, bookers and finance? Be clear on your end goal and create your top 3 priorities. For example service, technology, value, broken down into specific areas of importance.
Assess the market. Speak to peers at other organisations, who do they use and what would they recommend? The TMC market is rapidly evolving, a good starting point is Buying Business Travel which will give you a flavour for the marketplace. The UK’s Leading TMCs 2025 | Business Travel News Europe. Europe’s Leading TMCs 2025 The BTN Group.
Note to buyers don’t go down a rabbit hold of paid ads when it comes to TMC’s. The bigger marketing budget does not mean the best fit for you.
Engage with a handful of TMC’s you think would be a good fit. Informal introductions work well before anything formal, we don’t bite. If I were a buyer, I’d want a supplier that’s large enough to cope but small enough to care. Ask where your travel spend would sit within their client portfolio.
Create a simple scoring matrix against your key priorities. Align your internal stakeholders so they feel involved and have a say throughout the process.
Outline your process. My recommendation is to have a blend of human interaction with formal documentation. See the technology, play with it. Meet the team who’ll be dealing with you every day. Visit the offices and check out the working environment.
Create a pricing framework, ensuring commercials are submitted in a consistent format that works for you. Share historic spend data and see what insights and recommendations the TMCs share back. Publish a governance and infosec questionnaire that provides all the comfort your business needs whilst managing proposed risks. Ask for a proposed contract and payment terms. AI can really help compare, contrast and highlight any key points of note.
Run it fairly. Give each competitor equal time, ideally at the same time each day. Its amazing that a meeting 1st thing could be viewed more favourably than one just before lunch. Ask consistent questions and get each stakeholder to score individually before discussing.
Note to clients out there be open and share feedback with all TMCs. My golden rule is that you learn more from losing, deeply understanding why, than you ever do winning. Sales people we have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason. Always good to use them proportionately.
In summary
Business travel is a contentious topic. When things go wrong, a solid and human client supplier partnership is of real value. Whilst a scoring process is important, so is gut feel. Utilise AI and machine learning to help cut through the governance and commercial processing, rather than replace humon feedback, insights and opinion.
As always, I’m here for you buyers, be it if you’re in buying mode or just want to talk travel.
