How many times have your sales people submitted a bid or provided a quote to a prospective client, and one of the following scenarios has occurred?
- They wasted a lot of time leaving voicemails and sending emails to the prospect without getting a response or decision.
- They found out that the prospect decided to use one of your competitors that provided the same solution for a cheaper price.
- They found out that the prospect decided to stay with the incumbent and used your bid or quote to drive down their current pricing.
You’re left feeling frustrated that your sales people did not better understand the prospect’s decision process – who was involved in the decision, what factors were involved in the decision, and why the final decision was made.
You’re seeing them spend a lot of time and resources on bidding and quoting and feel like you’re not winning your fair share. This is causing sales to grow slower than you want.
Your sales people could be running into these challenges due to a number of reasons, including:
- Not setting clear and mutually agreed-to expectations and outcomes with the prospect from the start
- Not understanding what challenges the prospect is currently facing and why the prospect would potentially make a change from their current situation
- Not establishing what the current challenges are costing the prospect and what amount they’re willing to invest to potentially make a change
- Not clearly understanding the decision process – who is involved, what the decision factors are, when the decision will be made, why the decision is made the way it is, etc.
- Not establishing clear next steps with the prospect - what happens if they respond to the bid or quote
Coach your people to start understanding the compelling reasons that prospects are asking for bids and quotes, and to set better expectations of what happens next if they respond to the requests. This will help you to better qualify the prospects and determine if it is worth investing your sales team’s time and effort in these opportunities.
