To better understand how RSS is changing way companies and individuals deliver and consume content on macro scale, let us first remember how content is traditionally delivered and consumed.

People subscribe to e-mail newsletters or e-mail update services to get content delivered directly to their inboxes. It's (or better yet, was) convenient, easy and simple.

But, in order to get content delivered to their inboxes, they must first reveal their e-mail addresses, which are basically ID numbers that allow anyone who knows them to send whatever they like to these ID numbers.

In a perfect world people would only receive content that they requested and only from people that they wanted to hear from --> people that can provide them with relevant information, specific to their interests and current situation.

But this is not a perfect world.

Since “ID number” allows anyone to contact anyone, people have very little control over who actually does contact them and what information they send them.

In a way, it's a “perfect democracy” that just doesn't work. Because, in reality, we don't want to hear from everyone that thinks they have something to say to us. In reality, we only want to hear from a very limited circle of people and receive very limited types of content categories.

But, for sake of argument, let's presume that we are actually getting information only from people that we want to hear from. Unfortunately these people still have power to send us whatever information they like, not just information we want to receive from them. Basically, they have power to push any kind of content to our e-mail inboxes.

We can either unsubscribe, if they give us this opportunity, from their e-mail service or continue to receive their content as it is. One of problems with this is that unsubscribing can be a rather tedious process, definitely not a two-click affair, and some people even doubt that unsubscribe feature will actually work.

This is our reality.

We are, more or less, forced to receive content we mostly don't want to receive, and for content that we do want to receive, we also have to put up with much information we don't want to get.

This is “democratic” nature of e-mail and many marketers and publishers have been abusing it for a long time. It's not medium's fault of course; it's just that people are who we are.

And now enter RSS in to picture, a “new” channel that users need to proactively add to their content consumption mix, including proactively adding content publishers they want to hear from, thus eliminating “democracy” of e-mail, conversely, limiting our “content diet” only to publishers we actually want to hear from.

But there's more.

One of this channel's characteristics is that it's extremely easy to remove content publishers you don't want to hear from.

When a request for proposal (RFP) comes in, you get excited! It’s a chance to earn income, develop more business contacts, and expand your client base. You work your little heart out in order to be thorough, compelling, and professional. Everything is in place. Your RFP is geared to show why your product or service will meet or exceed client’s goals. With fingers crossed, you submit.

Whether through non-response, a phone call, or an email, you find out your proposal was rejected. But why? Have you ever wondered? Have you ever asked? You should!

Finding out why proposals are rejected can lead to some valuable insights that - in turn - lead to increased proposal acceptance. But how do you go about asking? Many people find this is an uncomfortable situation to approach. It’s really quite easy, if you handle it professionally.

Step One - Create a Form

Create a form or questionnaire that lists a few questions you’d like answers to. You may want to ask:

• if proposal itself was clear • whether all information prospect needed to make a decision was included • if price was too high based on services provided • whether your product/service was flexible enough • if any element was missing from your proposal

Don’t:

• ask to see winning proposal • ask which company won