Funny how some prospects think they are doing me a favor by giving me the honor of being one of three required bids.
I had a prospect lately who asked me to provide them a bid for some product and services even though they had just renewed with their past 4 year provider, he said they were happy with the support they provided as well.
The bid was for some add-on work around the same application area and he needed to get three bids as a corporate requirement before purchasing. He stated over and over again how there was a real opportunity. I didn’t believe him.
Preparing the bid would have taken about 8 person-hours of time, he would not let us do an accurate functional spec on the new functionality, this was an easy ‘Thanks but No Thanks” response.
I know the buyer has power in today’s market but not the power to waste my time.
I do know that he will get his 3 bidders, at least 3 organizations will have ‘HOPE’ as their strategy. (The secret is we had done several bids for him over the past years)
My suggestion in these scenarios is to listen to what your gut is telling you, it is usually accurate. Be authentic, tell the customer, “Thanks Maybe Next Time.”
Good insight, Steve. Equally applicable to small, medium and even tiny businesses. I’ve read many posts saying that not all business is worth the effort, but you have a great point to apply the same screen to bids.
Steve - I can sum this up in one word: Amen!
Thanks for telling it like it is - great blog - keep up the great content!
Caroline
I also agree that not all business is worth the effort. Some customers are just too hard to please.
Thanks for all of the comments, good to know my experience and instinct may be accurate.
This is so true. The last time I wrote a proposal, it took 12 hours and the client said yes, so I figured it was worth it.
Then the client called the next day and say they had chosen another vendor, who was cheaper.
I vowed that day never to spend a lot of time writing proposals, and, in fact, rarely write any at all. I usually tell clients that I don’t do proposals, and several thought that was great!
I can relate to Amanda’s comment. There are times when you have to wonder just how much of your effort is worth the sale? However, we must keep word of mouth in mind, right
Absolutely Steve! I remember a quote I read somewhere or other something along the lines of “Some of the best business I’ve done is business I never did.”
It’s not always practical, but in the long-term defining the characteristics of your ideal client and building a customer base of ideal clients is a great way to building a business that’s more profitable, not to mention enjoyable. Not every opportunity is worth pursuing.
Thanks for the blog.
Couldnt agree with you more. I just have an RFP sent to me which is exactly what you describe. The buyer, who is the VP of a leading IT company writes to me ‘Hello Anup, I am almost through with my process of getting proposals for the search engine optimisation work for our company. However I came to know from ……… that you are also providing this service’ Please send me a quote latest by tomorrow night. And the RFP is so onerous and probing…the questions make you feel they want your complete business strategy before they assign you any work’ Guess what my gut feel says.