Change the Rules of the Game

RFPs. Requests For Proposals. What do you do when you get them?

* Get all excited because you think you’ve got a hot prospect?
* Start thinking of all the ways you can spend that big commission check?
* Figure this BIG sale will make your year, help you beat your quota and keep your boss happy?

If you picked any of the above answers, you picked the wrong answer.

An RFP is little more than a request from the customer for you to waste a huge amount of your time. The customer has asked you – and a number of your competitors – to bid against each other for their business.

They ask you to complete their detailed form/questionnaire and then send it in to them for their review and analysis. Maybe they pick three finalists for another round of presentations. Maybe they don’t.

Think back over the past year.

* How many RFPs did you respond to?
* How many hours did you spend creating them?
* How many days, weeks or months did you spend following up on them?
* How many of them did you close?
* How much m oney did you make?

I would like to share this story with you.

Charlie, one of my consulting clients, received an RFP for his software via e-mail the other day. This came from John at AJAX Manufacturing. Charlie had last spoken with John several months ago during a five to ten minute phone call.

John had never ‘granted’ him a meeting, nor returned Charlie’s subsequent phone calls.

Out of the blue this RFP arrived. It had a list of about 100 questions that Charlie was expected – required – to answer. John wanted to know how his software worked, the details of all its features, the best ways to use/apply the software and more.

John also wanted the pricing for the basic system and for each of the different modules.

Charlie figured that this was at least five to ten hours of work. He called me and asked what he should do?

People hire me because I’m blunt, to the point, and don’t beat around the bush.

I told Charlie that unless he’s able to speak with John – and have some meaningful and substantive conversations –  he’s going to waste the next three to six months of his life.

This $200,000+ deal will never close. The more time he spends on this ‘opportunity,’ the less time he’ll spend looking for new business.

If he follows this course of action, his sales will be off, his income will be down, and his boss will be very unhappy with him. I suggested we “Change The Rules Of The Game!”

You may remember the old Chinese proverb: “He who asks the questions, controls the conversation and the agenda.”

If you want to become a great salesperson, you must learn how to ask great questions.

In Charlie’s case, if he responds to the RFP, he’s giving answers. He’s not asking any questions. He knows almost nothing about John or AJAX, but John knows everything about Charlie’s company and its software.

I told Charlie to call John and ask if they could schedule a telephone call so he could learn a bit more about what it is that John’s looking for.

Charlie made the call, and left a voice mail message. John sent an e-mail back asking Charlie to send him a list of questions that he wanted answers to, and said they could speak at 11:00am the following Monday.

Charlie sent him this list of four questions:

* Why do you need this software?
* What problem will this software solve?
* How much is this problem costing you?
* How quickly do you need to solve this problem?

By responding to John’s RFP – with four simple questions – Charlie had “Changed The Rules Of The Game.”

The focus of Charlie’s questions were on the customer’s problem. They had nothing to do with

* The RFP,
* The decision making process,
* The names of other suppliers who received the RFP, or
* The amount of money in the budget.

The answers to these questions aren’t important. Your focus should always be on the customer’s problem, not the solution.

When Charlie spoke on the phone with John, he explained that he didn’t have answers to any of Charlie’s questions. He wasn’t a decision maker. He was simply the information gatherer – point person – on the project.

Charlie then asked if they could setup a call with the people who ‘did’ have the answers to these questions. John said that would be fine, and additional meetings have been scheduled.

The beauty of asking these types of questions is that you get to decision makers very quickly. If you’re unable to get to the decision makers – and get the answers you need – you learn very quickly that you don’t have a prospect and you move on.

The next time you get an RFP, or someone asks you to “send me something in the mail,” change the rules of the game. You’ll keep yourself from wasting 30, 60 or 90 days of your life on low-probability opportunities.

You can now use this time to find great opportunities and turn them into satisfied customers.

– Jeffrey