CRM RFP Template: Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics Evaluation (2026)
A CRM RFP that actually surfaces fit, not the platform that demos best. Section-by-section requirements covering data model, automation, integrations, reporting, and the pricing line items vendors will try to bundle past you.
Section 1: Company and sales motion context
Give respondents the context to write a relevant response. The shorter and sharper this section, the better the responses you get back.
- Company description in two sentences. Industry, size, geographies.
- Current CRM (if any), why you are switching, what is broken.
- Sales motion: inbound vs outbound vs hybrid; transactional vs complex enterprise; sales cycle length; average deal size.
- Sales team structure: SDRs / AEs / CSMs, segmentation by region or account size, manager hierarchy.
- Volume: leads per month, opportunities per quarter, accounts under active management.
- Timeline: when you need go-live, who the executive sponsor is.
Section 2: Required CRM capabilities
2.1 Data model and customisation
- Standard objects required: Lead, Contact, Account, Opportunity, Activity, Task, Note, Document.
- Custom objects we need: [list each, with relationship to standard objects]
- Hierarchies: parent-child accounts, multi-divisional reporting, region/territory model.
- Field-level security: which roles see which fields.
- Custom field limit: maximum custom fields per object the platform supports.
- Soft-delete / undo: 30+ day recoverable deletion on records.
2.2 Automation and workflow
- Native automation builder (no-code) for assignment, routing, task creation, field updates.
- Approval workflows with multi-step parallel and serial approvers.
- Time-based triggers (after N days, before N days from a date field).
- Native scoring (lead score, account score) with no third-party dependency.
- Limit on automation runs per month at proposed tier.
2.3 Integrations required (mandatory in response)
- Email + calendar: [your stack - Gmail/Outlook]
- Marketing automation: [your tool]
- Billing / CPQ: [your tool]
- Data warehouse: [your tool] with at least daily sync, ideally near-real-time
- Support tool: [your tool]
- Identity provider for SSO: [Okta / Azure AD / Google Workspace]
- Phone / dialer: [your tool, if applicable]
- Document signing: [DocuSign / Adobe Sign / native]
2.4 Reporting and dashboards
- Out-of-the-box reports for: pipeline by stage, conversion by source, win/loss, activity volume, forecast.
- Custom dashboard builder accessible by non-admin users.
- Cross-object reporting (e.g., Opportunity + Account + Activity in one report).
- Scheduled report delivery to email or Slack.
- Export to CSV / connector to your BI tool.
Section 3: Pricing format required in the response
Mandate this format so quotes are comparable. Marketing pricing pages are not.
- Per-seat list price by user type (Sales user, Sales manager, Admin, Read-only).
- Negotiated discount available at our seat count, multi-year commit, payment terms.
- Year-2 and year-3 price escalators in contract language.
- Sandbox / dev environment cost (often hidden).
- Per-integration cost (some platforms charge per connector or per API call above a free tier).
- Implementation services cost (or partner cost, if implementation is partner-led).
- Annual TCO at year 1, 3, and 5 assuming 20% headcount growth per year.
Section 4: Evaluation criteria and scoring
Publish the weights so vendors can prioritise their response.
- Functional fit (data model, automation, reporting): 35%
- Integration depth with our stack: 20%
- Total cost of ownership year 1-5: 20%
- Implementation risk and timeline: 10%
- Vendor health (financials, customer references, platform roadmap): 10%
- User experience (assessed during sandbox trial): 5%