User Guide 3: Reviewing Proposals
Kathink provides several tools to help you quickly filter and review proposals submitted by Business Thinkers.
When you start receiving free proposals on Kathink, you are not bound to accept any of them or to pay any fees. You only become liable for fees after you commission a Business Thinker to deliver a full, detailed response, so it's important to select business thinkers (BTs) carefully.
This short guide will help you discern the best proposals.
Receiving proposals
When Business Thinkers have seen your request on Kathink, you may receive numerous free proposals. You will be notified of new proposals on your home page and requests page.
When you view the details of your request, you will see more details on any new proposals. This view shows a request that has received 2 new proposals, but you may have dozens to review at the same time.
Below we describe 5 ways to help you filter the best proposals and BTs.
Tips
1. BT's average rating
A quick way to evaluate whether a Business Thinker is likely to be provide useful ideas is to look at their history. The average rating shows how other Clients have rated this BT on previous commissions.
If you have numerous proposals to consider, you may reject any BT have low average rating (under 70%) at this stage, without looking at the details of the proposal. However, it may be worth considering the other rating mechanisms in conjunction with the average rating, to help you identify the best idea.
2. BT's commission history
Once you click into the Proposal details, you will be able to view the BT's transaction history on Kathink. This gives you more information on their past commissions, including the size of previous fees, title, and of course rating.
The BT's history gives you a better impression of the types of tasks they have been commissioned to deliver before, at what level, and where they have been most successful.
3. Kathink Key® fit
The Kathink Key® graph will show you how accurately the BT's assessment of the Key Criteria you defined fit your own priorities.
Note that a BT's Key rating may differ from your own for good reason, which might be explained in the proposal detail.
As newer BTs may have no rating yet, the Key fit can be the most useful measure you have as to their suitability.
4. Pricing
When you post your original request, you set a price point for the fees you intend to pay for a detailed response. BTs are not bound to offer this same price: they may decide that they can deliver what you need for a lower price, or can only do it for a higher fee (unless the fee is capped).
If price is an important factor for you, you may favour BTs who come in with lower prices. (This is quite common with new BTs who need to build a strong Kathink rating.)
Note that you are not bound to accept the BT's price. You set the final price offered at the point that you commission a BT to provide their full response, which the BT may accept or decline.
5. Proposal detail
The final, and best, means you have to evaluate the proposal is the detail the BT provides. A good proposal detail should indicate:
- The general idea or approach the BT suggests
- Other factors for consideration (which you may not have incorporated in your own Kathink Key® evaluation)
- Any special experience or insight that the BT feels they offer that could help them fulfil the request
The final judgement should always be based on the best proposal details. The previous 4 tools should help you filter and identify the proposals most likely to merit most attention.
