When a customer asks for a proposal he’ll have a plan for making the decision (if he doesn’t we have a problem). However these plans rarely work out the way they’re supposed to, and the more people involved, the less likely they are to. We know because we come across it all the time. We also know the customer’s decision process isn’t likely to deliver the best outcome, either for him or us. Customers only ever take into account that which they understand, they ignore the influence our competitors can bring to the table, and they constrain our ability to make our strengths count.
Ideally we can persuade the prospect to enhance his process, by adopting ours. We’ve good reason to believe ours is better because our entire future depends upon the success it delivers. Customers who buy the wrong thing, the wrong way don’t give good testimonials no matter how good the supplier. Unhappy customers increase our support costs and soak up management time. We can’t afford them and doing things in ways which avoid customer problems should be one of our main selling points.
There’s a hidden problem here. If we understand it, and recognize it, then we can manage risk for him, and ourselves. That problem is the prospect is usually inexperienced and he won’t want us to know it. He’ll tell us the decision is solely his, and may even mean it at the time, but things aren’t going to work out that way.
For example, let’s assume the CEO has asked our guy to organize a facilities management contract for the premises. The vendors come in and offer a range of options, each of them different in some respect. There is rarely a time when this is a straightforward comparison between vendors A,B and C. One offers to buy the assets and lease them back. Another offers services with his own people, another offers services using subcontractors. Which is the most appropriate?
Ultimately our guy isn’t going to make the choice, maybe because he’s not qualified, but certainly because he doesn’t want to carry the blame if it goes wrong. This decision is going upstairs, even though nobody understands it now. He’s going to the boss with a choice of acceptable options. The CEO is going to make the decision. They mostly do – see Call as high as you can.
If we can offer him a similar, but alternative, process which puts him in a good light – all of the research and due diligence goes to his credit even if we do the work – and offer him an escape route to pass the buck, he’ll take it. Lets suggest we can’t finish our proposal until we understand the business Balance Sheet strategy and that needs our CEO to meet with his. This way we pass the buck for him. When CEO’s get together they have to make decisions.
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