Successful Sales Management: Why Go After That Sale

Great News. ?A new prospect called and asked us to send in a proposal. This sounds like easy business. Maybe the marketing is working at last?

If only life were that simple? But unfortunately it isn't. Every sales project costs money, and every sale lost is cost of sale wasted.

That's why big businesses use bid review to decide whether to engage with new prospects.

In this article we explain the theory and give examples of how it works.

Do We Go After This Deal:

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Bid review is an essential step in?best practice?sales management. It is broadly the same for any sales opportunity, although for smaller, simpler deals the milestones can all be part of the same conversation. For bigger deals planning and executing a process is imperative. The higher value will warrant more of an investment in cost of sale. More investment needs more confidence in a successful outcome. That confidence comes from the process. There are nuances for specific?business models, but that process should comprise the following phases:

1. Qualification ? are we sure the customer will buy from somebody?
2. Bid Review ? can we win this deal, and will it be worth the effort?
3. Proposal- ways the offer will satisfy the customer requirement, for how much.
4. Negotiation ? refining the terms of the proposal.
5. Contract ? terms of business.

Next up is Bid Review ? can we win this deal? And do we want to? Here are some sample questions for the Bid Review:

1 ? Can we satisfy the customer?

Disappointed customers?make poor business partners and worse references. Winning business we can?t deliver is an exercise in self destruction. Take a hard look at:

• Do we have reference customers for this requirement?
• Do we have the resources within the customers time frame?
• Will our solution achieve the customers objectives?

2 ? How do we perform against the competition?

Are we being considered as a potential winner, or just cannon fodder? Buyers select short lists of three, knowing two aren?t going to win. One vendor?s preferred. The others are there to keep the other guy honest.

• Do we typically win, or lose, against these competitors?
• Do we have a strategy to win this time, when everybody expects us to lose?
• What is our edge, and how does the customer perceive it?

3 ? Are there risks to our business?

Not every piece of business is good, even when its profitable, but especially when it isn?t profitable enough. These aren?t necessarily reasons to?walk away, once we know how to manage the downside.

• Does the margin improve, or reduce total %age gross profit?
• Is cash flow negative at any point?
• Will service to existing customers be harmed?

4 ? Can we engage the customer in a Buy/Sell process?

The customer has to work with us through discovering requirements and defining how they?ll be met.

• Are conversations open or closed?
• Does the customer accept and deliver on tasks?
• Do we have access to the people we need to convince?

5 ? Where?s the?opportunity cost?

• What else could we be doing instead of trying to sell this?
• Would that be better for our business?

6 ? Have we got a coach?

In any?sales campaign?the playing field changes, and keeps doing it. Competitors don?t sit quietly on the sidelines while we do our thing. We need an inside track, keeping us in touch with what changes.

• Who is our coach?
• How much influence does the coach have?
• Why does the coach want us to win?

and finally?-

7 ? Would WE buy it from US?

Stand in the customers shoes and answer the question. Be honest. This is the most vital of all the questions.

Make forensic Bid Review a crucial step in your sales process and you?ll increase win rates, prices and margins. You?ll also qualify out of more deals, but that?s the whole point of bid review;

It?s about not wasting cost of sale, time and resources in deals we can?t or don?t really want to win.
If this article has captured your interest, you might want to come back some time and look at some more ideas on?sales strategy and process.

Source: http://successfulsalesmanagement.stevensreeves.com/2012/08/why-go-after-that-sale.html

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