The truth can of course be painful. Nobody wants to hear that their offering is not really being considered. But there's a huge value in knowing where you stand and being able to refocus your effort and resources where they'll do the most good. So when you hear one of the objections above, stop the conversation and ask the hard question. Your buyer will probably appreciate you cutting to the chase: the white lies she's been telling to let you down easy are probably getting a little tiring for her as well.
If you don't put something urgent and provocative in front of the buyer in the first 90 seconds of your call, your buyer will step into the vacuum and fill it themselves. They'll fill it with rote questions, flawed categorization, indifference, false objections, a recitation of numerical parameters or something worse. I'll leave you with a tip to help you fill the void. Make this the first sentence of your next sales meeting: "We've looked at your business, and there's one big issue we don't think you recognize. And if it's not addressed, you'll be missing a huge opportunity." Do the work. Think. Plan. Fill the vacuum.
Start by accepting the RFP process for what it is: a formal justification process for that which the agency already wants to buy for its client. Now put your valuable human and financial capital to work on two new agendas: disruption and systemic enhancement. First, frame a disruptive challenge to the customer's thinking and work hard to introduce it at a high level well before the RFP process even begins. What do we know about the consumer, the process or the market that would be valuable to this customer? What will cause them to look at things differently? Once you've driven a wedge like this into the customer's reality, focus on how your company can bring long term value to this customer's process. Focus less on making the plan and more on making a difference.
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