A quick question, a project brief or a formal RFQ. One form that grows with what you are sending, read in full by the lead for the work, answered with questions, a time to talk, or a clear no.
An example brief for "Your company", scored by the same brief check the form uses. Project brief: Problem, Demo requests come from companies too small to serve; Scope, Website rebuild and an SEO programme; Outcome, Double qualified demo requests in two quarters; Audience, IT directors, 200–2,000 people, UK and India; Budget, 50,000–100,000 USD; Timing, Live before the March trade show; Files, rfp-website.pdf · guidelines.pdf. Brief strength 84 percent, Strong — enough for a first scope. Next most useful: How you will judge it.
What are you sending?
01
A quick question
For a first conversation, a press request, or anything that does not need a scope yet.
You getA reply from a lead, not a sales queue
02Most useful
A project brief
Goals, audiences, a budget band and timing. Enough for us to come back with a shape, not only questions.
You getOptions and a first scope after one call
03
A formal RFQ or RFP
Your pack, your deadlines, and the procurement and security rules the work must meet.
You getReceipt confirmed and a named bid lead
The brief
Choose what you are sending. Only your name, a work email and one line about the work are required. Everything else is optional, and every answer makes the first reply sharper.
How to write a good brief1 answer needs a look
How to write one
The same list scores the brief check beside the form. You do not need all of it: five clear answers beat ten vague ones.
Fig. 01A brief is read twice: once for what it asks, once for what it leaves out.
Weigh it for
The share each answer carries in the brief check, re-scaled for the kind of brief you send. It follows the form until you choose here.
Every message 3 answers
Three answers any enquiry can give in two minutes.
A work email and a company tell us which lead should reply and what we can check before we do.
A strong answerYour name, Head of Digital at Your company (400 people, B2B software).
10% of the score
What is not working, in your words. Symptoms are fine; we will find the cause with you.
A strong answerOur site explains features, not outcomes, and most demo requests come from companies too small for sales to serve.
14% of the score
The services you think you need, or the way you want to buy them. Guesses are welcome; we will correct them.
A strong answerA website rebuild and an SEO programme, bought as a fixed-price project.
12% of the score
A project brief adds 7 answers
What a lead needs to come back with a shape, not only questions.
What changes for the business if this works. A number and a date make it something both sides can plan against.
A strong answerDouble qualified demo requests from mid-market IT buyers within two quarters.
14% of the score
The people who have to notice, trust or use the result. The narrower, the better the work.
A strong answerIT directors at 200 to 2,000 person companies in the UK and India.
8% of the score
The measure you will report upward, and where it is tracked today.
A strong answerDemo requests from target-size companies, tracked in the CRM, reviewed monthly.
10% of the score
A range, not a number. It lets us propose the right size of work first time instead of three sizes.
A strong answer50,000–100,000 US dollars.
10% of the score
When you want to start, and any date that cannot move.
A strong answerStart next month; live before the March trade show.
8% of the score
Where you are in the decision and who else signs it off, so nobody meets the work for the first time at the end.
A strong answerBudget approved; the CMO decides and IT signs off security.
6% of the score
Your current stack, brand assets, research and the references you admire or want to avoid.
A strong answerThe current site runs on WordPress; brand guidelines are attached.
8% of the score
A formal RFQ adds 1 answer
The rules a proposal is judged against, up front.
Procurement steps, security and compliance requirements, and the proposal deadline. Only an RFQ needs these up front.
A strong answerVendor registration and a security questionnaire; GDPR; proposals due 14 November.
—% Not counted for this kind of brief
Template
Write it offline first
The checklist as a plain-text file, with an example for every answer. Fill it in, then paste it into the form or attach it.
Download the brief templateFor an RFQ, attach
Same company, same need. The second takes ten minutes longer to write and saves a week of back-and-forth.
What we often getAnswers 3 of 10
We need a new website. It should be modern and help us grow. Budget is flexible, and we need it as soon as possible.
Missing: the outcome, the audience, how success is judged, a budget band, a real date, the decision.
What gets a scope backAnswers 9 of 10
Double qualified demo requests from mid-market IT buyers within two quarters.04 Our site explains features, not outcomes, and most demo requests come from companies too small for sales to serve.02 It is for IT directors at 200 to 2,000 person companies in the UK and India.05 We think we need a website rebuild and an SEO programme.03 Success is demo requests from target-size companies, tracked in the CRM.06 Budget: 50,000–100,000 US dollars.07 It must be live before our March trade show.08 The CMO decides; IT signs off security.09 The current site runs on WordPress, and our brand guidelines are attached.10
Numbers point to the checklist above. The tenth answer, who is asking, comes from the first step of the form.
After you send
A brief and an RFQ run on different clocks. Either way you know what happens next and when.
If you send it now
The office is closed: it is 04:19 IST, Sun 4 Oct. The clock starts at 10:00 IST on Mon 5 Oct.
Working days, Monday to Friday, India Standard Time. Public holidays are not counted, and every date is a target, not a promise.
A project brief
01
Instant
Sun 4 Oct, 04:19
Your reference appears on screen and the brief lands in our inbox with its files.
02
Same working day
Mon 5 Oct
The lead for the discipline reads it in full. A brief that spans disciplines gets one lead, not three.
03
Within one working day
By Tue 6 Oct
Questions, a time to talk, or a clear no, with a referral if we know someone better placed.
04
Within a week of the call
5 working days after the call
Thirty minutes, then a written scope with options, a team and a pricing model. NDA signed first if you asked.
The first call
A formal RFQ
01
Within one working day
By Tue 6 Oct
We confirm receipt, name a bid lead and check that every document opened.
02
Within three working days
By Thu 8 Oct
We tell you early if we will not bid, and why. No silent drop-outs.
03
By your Q&A deadline
The date in your pack
Questions go in the format your process asks for, to the contact you name.
04
By your due date
In your template, with the security and procurement answers in the forms you sent.
An illustration of an agent-drafted RFQ summary: the due date, the format and the scoring weights, three questions the pack leaves open with the page each came from, waiting for the bid lead to sign it off.
Agents help
For a long RFQ, an agent drafts a one-page summary and lists the questions the pack leaves open, with the page each came from.
People decide
The bid lead reads the original documents, edits the questions and decides whether we bid. Nothing goes to you that a person has not read.
Other ways in
Not everything belongs in a brief. Each inbox is read by the people it names, on its own clock.
Projects, proposals and anything you would rather not put in a form.
connect@xterraedze.comAim: 1 working day
Or send a briefQuestions about roles. To apply, use the careers page.
careers@xterraedze.comAim: 5 working days
See open rolesInterviews, commentary and speaking requests.
press@xterraedze.comAim: 2 working days
Or use the formReport a vulnerability in anything we run. Please do not test live client systems.
security@xterraedze.comAcknowledged: 2 working days
Read the security policy01 · Office Closed now · 04:19 IST
Monday to Friday · 10:00–19:00 IST
Open in Maps — New Delhi (opens in a new tab)02 · Office Closed now · 04:19 IST
Monday to Friday · 10:00–19:00 IST
Open in Maps — Ludhiana (opens in a new tab)By appointment
Thirty minutes, booked straight into the calendar, with a confirmation email from the booking service. Meetings at either office are by appointment. Say so in your brief and we will send directions and a time.
Book a callYes. Turn on "An NDA is required" in the documents step and attach yours, or ask for ours. We sign before any detailed discussion, and your brief can stay high-level until then.
Choose "Not sure yet". A band helps us propose the right size of work first time. Without one we come back with options at two or three sizes and say what each buys.
Yes. We answer in your template, keep to your Q&A and submission deadlines, and complete vendor registration and security questionnaires as part of the bid.
They are stored privately on our own server, outside the public website, and are opened only by the team through our admin. Ask and we delete them.
PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Keynote, RTF, plain text, ZIP, PNG and JPG. For spreadsheets or anything larger, zip it or paste a link to a shared folder.
No. It is a rules check that runs in your browser. It scores your answers against the checklist on this page and spots things like an amount, a date or a service in your text. Nothing is sent anywhere until you press Send.
The form takes any country, time zone and currency, and calls are arranged in your working hours. Tell us where the work will run and we will say plainly if a local partner would serve you better.
Use the careers page: every open role has its own application with a CV upload. This form is for work.
Tell us what you’re building. We’ll answer straight.
