of their buying time is what B2B buyers spend engaging with all providers combined. The rest happens without you.
Gartner, The B2B Buying JourneyHandbook with an integrated RFP draft
Putting website projects out to tender for B2B companies
Your RFP is 80 % done. All you have to do is fill it in.
- 22 chapters
- 98 text blocks
- 21 red flags
- 63 vetting questions
A new B2B website is an investment in the mid five figures, and it is still the project of that size most often awarded without a written specification. This handbook closes the gap: with ready-to-copy text blocks, the typical warning signs in proposals, and the matrix for comparing them.
- 87 pages
- Free as a PDF
- German language
- Vendor-neutral
- Appendix volume included
87 pages · PDFFree
Handbook · B2B
98ready-to-use text blocks
Putting website projects out to tenderWith an integrated RFP draft
lilox.io22 chapters
87pages
22chapters
98text blocks
21red flags
63vetting questions
7appendices
/ 01 · Why this handbook exists
Five figures invested, without it ever being written down what gets delivered
Website projects are regularly awarded on the basis of a conversation and a reference list. Nobody would order a production line in the same price bracket that way. With the company’s most important sales instrument, that is exactly what happens every day.
The outcome is rarely an obvious disaster. It is something more insidious: a project that is formally completed but never does what it was meant to do. Analyzing failed projects points to four risk areas. Each of them has the same root cause.
Risk area 01
Gaps in scope
The project is "finished" but incomplete. Copy, migration and legal are missing. No provider lied, each delivered exactly what their proposal said. Only: the proposal was written by the provider.
Risk area 02
No effect
Beautifully built, but no inquiries and no tracking. Nobody defined up front how the success of the site would be measured, so nobody measures it.
Risk area 03
Dependency
Domain, accounts and code effectively sit with the provider. Switching providers then stops being a formality and becomes a negotiation from the weakest position.
Risk area 04
Follow-up costs
Change requests and extra work after the proposal. The cheapest proposal regularly becomes the most expensive project, because only the invoices reveal what was never included.
Four areas, one cause: it was never put in writing what the provider is supposed to deliver.
/ 02 · The market has shifted
The website decides before your sales team is even at the table
Four figures that explain why a B2B website today is a sales instrument and not an image project. All four appear in the handbook with the full source.
of B2B buyers report contradictions between what the website says and what sales says.
Gartner, 632 buyers, 06/2025prefer a buying process with as little sales contact as possible. The website does the work.
Gartner, same surveyof all websites worldwide run on WordPress. Among sites with a CMS it is 59.2%. A platform choice is still not a given.
W3Techs / Q-Success/ 03 · Your outcome
What you do differently after reading it
You don’t have to phrase anything. You only have to decide and fill in the brackets.
You get comparable proposals
Because every provider has to answer the same questions. Anyone with three proposals today is comparing three different projects. Afterwards you compare three prices for the same project.
The website is yours afterwards
Every account, every domain, every license is in your name. That costs exactly nothing during delivery and decides years later whether switching providers is a formality.
You spot expensive proposals in advance
21 red flags, each with an explanation of what sits behind it. From the system recommendation before the requirements analysis to unlimited revision rounds as a selling point.
You calculate the five-year total
Build plus licenses plus maintenance plus typical changes at unit prices. The proposal price alone says little about what the project ends up costing.
You choose the platform deliberately
Five criteria instead of a provider portfolio. Whoever doesn’t make the decision has it made for them by the first provider they meet, along that provider’s options rather than your requirements.
"Finished" becomes provable
A defined acceptance and sign-off process instead of endless loops. With criteria that objectively show whether what was agreed has been delivered.
98 text blocks you don’t have to write yourself.
Free, in your inbox immediately, no sales call. All we need is a name and an email address.
/ 04 · The text blocks
This is what a text block looks like
Every chapter comes with its own RFP section: numbered, ready to take over and adapt. Whatever stands in square brackets, you fill in. Two examples are here, 98 are in the handbook.
E-01
Ownership and registration
All accounts, contracts and licenses created in the project are registered to the client. This includes in particular the domain, hosting, CMS access, analytics property, tag manager container, image and font licenses, and all third-party services (forms, newsletter, consent). The contractor receives delegated access for the duration of the engagement.
The principle behind itThe one principle running through every chapter: delivery with the contractor, ownership with the client.
M-02
Quantity structure and unit prices
The provider states separately: the number of page templates to be created and the number of pages to be populated on the basis of those templates. In addition, unit prices are to be given for: each further template, each further populated page, each further blog post, and each hour of changes after go-live.
The principle behind itThe block that makes proposals comparable in the first place.
/ 05 · Appendix D
21 red flags in proposals
One per chapter, bundled in the appendix as a warning list. No provider with a red flag is automatically bad. But every one of them belongs on the table before anyone signs. Three are here.
Flag 01
System recommendation before the requirements analysis
In the very first conversation it is already settled what you will build with. Then the decision was not made along your requirements but along the provider’s portfolio.
Vetting questionWhich of our requirements led to this choice of system?
Flag 02
Unit prices are refused
"That can’t be said in general terms." Anyone who cannot quote a further page or a further blog post has not costed the work. The change request comes anyway.
Vetting questionWhat does an additional page cost on the basis of an existing template?
Flag 03
Hosting included, without contract details
It sounds like service and is usually lock-in. If the contract sits with the provider, the environment isn’t yours and switching becomes a negotiation.
Vetting questionWhose name is the hosting contract in, and what does the exit look like?
/ 06 · The platform decision
The platform decision: three worlds, five criteria
This decision stays with you longer than any design detail. For the next five to ten years it determines who can change your website, what that costs, and how easily you can switch service provider. The handbook deliberately recommends no system.
Custom development
World 01
- Custom code
- Plain HTML
Proprietary SaaS builder
World 02
- Framer
- Webflow
- Wix Studio
Open-source CMS
World 03
- WordPress
- TYPO3
The five criteria for the decision
01
Editability by your own team
02
Dependency and export capability
03
Total cost over five years
04
Extensibility
05
Replaceability of the service provider
None of the three worlds is right in itself. The only wrong move is not making the decision at all.
Made for large projects, usable for small ones.
Designed to scale into seven figures. For smaller undertakings you pick out the relevant parts, or walk through them with the provider in conversation and minute them. All that matters is that the minutes become a binding part of the engagement.
/ 07 · What’s inside
Three parts, 22 chapters, seven appendices
Part A covers the preparation, Part B is the RFP itself, Part C governs process, acceptance and commercials. Every chapter delivers one text block, one red flag and three vetting questions.
- 01Ch. 1
Into risk without an RFP
The four risk areas and the antidote: a written specification.
- 02Ch. 2
Project goals and audiences
"More inquiries" turns into a goal you can sign off on.
- 03Ch. 3
Project management and roles
The one role you must never outsource.
- 04Ch. 4 · Appendix C
Ownership, accounts and rights
Every account, every domain, every login is in your name.
- 05Ch. 5
The platform decision
Three worlds, five criteria, no system recommendation.
- 06Ch. 6 to 7
Strategy, sitemap and quantity structure
The numbers that make proposals comparable in the first place.
- 07Ch. 8 to 10
Design, copy and imagery
A design system that still holds up after go-live.
- 08Ch. 11 to 12
Hosting, migration and go-live
A redirect concept, so your visibility survives the move.
- 09Ch. 13
Extended tech stack
Consent, analytics and CRM measure your goals instead of clicks.
- 10Ch. 14
AI visibility and GEO
Getting cited in the answers of ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- 11Ch. 15 to 16
Legal, accessibility and handover
Accounts, training and what has to be in writing legally.
- 12Ch. 17 to 18
Feedback, sign-off and acceptance
Proving "finished" objectively instead of endless loops.
- 13Ch. 19 to 21
Pricing models, maintenance and options
Five-year total instead of proposal price, avoiding change requests.
- 14Ch. 22
Scoring the proposals
The weighted matrix in which the best bid wins on substance.
- +7 appendices
Appendices A to G
RFP outline, short version to work through, ownership checklist, red flags and provider questions bundled together.
/ 08 · Is this for you?
Who this handbook was written for
Written for management as well as marketing and sales leads who want to commission a website without having to be web project professionals.
A fit
The handbook is for you if …
- a website relaunch is coming up or is currently being budgeted
- you have to compare proposals from several agencies
- you know specifications from procurement, but not for web projects
- change requests took you by surprise on the last project
- you aren’t sure whether the domain and accounts really belong to you
- you have to justify to a committee why the cheapest proposal shouldn’t win
Probably not a fit
Save yourself the download if …
- you expect a ready-made system recommendation, the handbook deliberately gives none
- you are looking for legal advice, the legal chapters do not replace a lawyer’s review
- you need a pure design brief rather than a scope of services
- your project is already awarded and the contract is signed
/ 09 · Who stands behind it
Tendering practice from industry, translated to website projects
Christoph spent 15 years putting large industrial projects out to tender and awarding them. That procurement logic is exactly what sits behind the structure of this handbook.
Partner · Procurement side
Ing. Christoph Fraiss, MBA, MSc
Mechanical and industrial engineer with an international MBA. 15 years in industry as project lead for large-scale projects, Head of Engineering and plant manager. He knows what fails instantly on a budget holder’s desk, because he sat on that side of the table for 15 years.
- Thermo Fisher
- Novartis
- Aenova
Managing Partner · CEO & Founder
Nadine Fraiss, MA
15 years in digital marketing, around ten of them exclusively in B2B. She has sat on both sides: as the client who had to justify agency budgets, and as the executive expected to deliver pipeline at the end of the quarter.
- Hypo Tirol Bank
- Hartlauer
- Egger
- Bots & People
5 out of 5
Competent, friendly, committed, and doesn’t just tell you what you want to hear. Advice between equals, no fluff, always focused.
Prof. (FH) Dr. Uwe HeilDr. Heil KG Consulting & Coaching/ 10 · Frequently asked questions
What gets asked most often before a tender
What has to go into a specification for a website relaunch?
The handbook structures the specification into 21 sections, from goals and roles through ownership, quantity structure, design, migration and legal to scoring the proposals. Appendix A provides the full outline, Appendix B a two-page short version you can work through.
How do I compare proposals from web agencies properly?
Not by the proposal price, but by the five-year total of build, licenses, maintenance and typical changes. Scoring happens in a weighted matrix that you set up before the proposals arrive.
WordPress, Webflow or Framer: what suits a B2B website?
The handbook deliberately recommends no system, but five decision criteria: editability by your own team, dependency and export capability, total cost over five years, extensibility, and replaceability of the service provider.
Who owns the website after the relaunch?
The principle is: delivery with the contractor, ownership with the client. All accounts, contracts, logins and licenses are registered to you. The scope of rights and the point of transfer belong explicitly in the contract and in the lawyer’s review.
Is the handbook usable for smaller projects too?
Yes. You don’t have to put the whole document out to tender; you can pick out the relevant parts, or walk through the points with the provider in conversation and minute them. All that matters is that those minutes become a binding part of the engagement.
What does the handbook cost and what happens to my data?
The handbook is free. Processing under GDPR, servers in the EU, no sharing with third parties. No phone call without your invitation. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time with one click.
Download
Get the handbook as a PDF
87 pages of handbook, in German, plus a separate appendix volume with the templates. Both files come together in the download link.
What’s in it
87 pages of handbook, in German, plus a separate appendix volume. Both files come together in the download link.
- 98 ready-to-use text blocks across 21 sections
- 21 red flags and 63 vetting questions
- Scoring matrix with weighting and knock-out criteria
- Short version of the specification to work through directly
- Ownership checklist for accounts, contracts and licenses
- Five criteria for the platform decision
Important: the handbook is not legal advice. The chapters on law, accessibility and copyright do not replace a lawyer’s review. The practical examples are anonymized, typified patterns from project work and not statistics. Prices quoted for third-party systems are snapshots and are to be re-checked before every tender.
/ 11 · Next step
Would you like a second read on your specification?
We look at your draft and tell you where the proposals will later diverge. 30 minutes, no obligation, even if you end up awarding it elsewhere.
