When a prospect asks your salespeople to put together a proposal it usually is music to their ears. Why? Well, there are lots of reasons.
Reason #1- As we all know, sales and business development is filled with rejection and negativity. Somehow when a seller hears,"Please send me a proposal" it might be the most positive thing that salesperson has heard in a long time. One step closer to landing a deal, a new client or repeat business. Awesome! It is the fuel that stokes the fire for most in sales.
Reason #2 - For some, working on a proposal is a way to justify not working on the activity that they dislike the most, prospecting. "Ah, a break from all that rejection, all those who have been telling me they are happy with their current provider or are all set, or have been using someone for the last 20 years"...the list is endless. "I get to put a proposal together today" is sometimes code for, "I don't have to prospect today."
Reason #3 - The company culture or management supports and or rewards this type of behavior...either in some monetary way or some "attaboy" way. "Hey nice job in getting XYZ to send us a request for proposal...we have been trying to crack their lineup for years."
Reason #4 - There are some who believe in the old adage of "if at first you don't succeed try, try, again.." Heck I remember my mother teaching me that one when I was 6 years old. So for some, it is in their DNA to get as many pieces of bait in the pond as possible, keep quoting and hoping, even the same prospects over and over, year after year, eventually something will be reeled in... These are just a few of the more common reasons. There are many other reasons that proposals get sent out, too many to list in this post.
Let's take a step back for a moment before we get off on a bunny trail and ask ourselves some very basic questions before we invest the time and resources to "send a proposal".
Question #1 - Why am I doing this? Do I need this business or do I want this business. The answer cannot be both. If you need this business the company sending the RFP has already spotted that - be prepared for heavy discounting and paper thin profit margins. The cost of "winning".
Question #2 - Have we fully qualified this opportunity prior to sending this proposal. By qualified I don't mean "they buy what we sell." To many salespeople if the prospect has a pulse, they are qualified. What standards or benchmarks exist in your organization that reflect your ideal client and how close does this propsect come to that? Your salespeople don't usually care about that. What is the long term potential of this prospect? How determined?
Question #3 - What are the clear cut next steps agreed upon? Have they agreed in advance to meet with you or your team to review the proposal or are you simply "quoting and hoping." This is like trying to hit the bullseye on a dart board with one dart. Hit it, win...miss it lose! I don't like those odds, do you?
Question #4 - What else is in your salespeople's prospecting pipeline? If the answer is very little or nothing better than this opportunity your salespeople will repsond to this request eagerly and with baited breath...As an owner or manager this is unacceptable and puts way too much pressure on the organization.
As a manager or business owner there are many other fundamental questions to ask which I'm sure get asked everyday. These 4 questions salespeople rarely ask before they hit the "send proposal" button on their laptop. Perhaps a topic for your next sales meeting?
-Stu Lewis, Sandler Training Chattanooga