Good relationships with buyers are "absolutely essential" if suppliers are to win business from them, Tony McGetrick, UK sales and marketing director of Expedia Corporate, said.
He told the Lanyon European Conference in London this week that relationship were one of the key factors when responding to an RFP.
He said the occasions when TMCs for which he was working had won business without a prior relationship were "extremely rare."
He told the 100 delegates: "If you have not got a relationship, it is not worth bidding."
His views were endorsed by Roger Evans, European sales manager for Avis and Chris Reynolds, former travel manager for Siemens in the UK and now a consultant with 3SIXTY, who both said relationships were key to success.
Mr McGetrick said corporates sometimes expected a reply to an RFP within a week or ten days but suppliers needed three to four weeks.
He said the cost of responding to a RFP could be £25,000 each. "We get 50 bids a year at Expedia so our costs are £800,000 – a staggering figure just for RFPs," he said.
Mr Reynolds said he had run a "weighting system" at Siemens to evaluate RFPs which included points for prices and levels of service.
"Service was the most important area, the weightiest sector. After that we looked at price. If the RFP was poor, then I felt they had not sold themselves to me and they would be penalised in the points system,” he said.
Earlier Mr McGetrick had warned that an excellent RFP was no guarantee that a supplier would win the business.
"I do believe that there is a winning formula - which I shall not share with you - but suffice it to say that RFP is only part of the process of winning business.
“There is also the relationship, the presentation, the negotiations and the site visit. All will inform the company and give an overall impression of the service."
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