There are legitimate obstacles that arise even at this late juncture, which is why “hit rates” aren’t even higher with this system. But you can maximize your rate of acceptance if you prepare for the common causes of last-minute interference.
Obstacle 1: The buyer is called away.
There have been more occasions than I thought possible in the realm of probability where my buyer has suddenly “vanished.” There’s an emergency in Puerto Rico and the buyer must rush to San Juan. There’s a sudden vacancy in the executive ranks, which the buyer must fill. There’s a potential client defection and the buyer must hurry to shore up the relationship.
Personally, the buyer is called away by illness in the family, a birth, a death, an accident, and so forth.
You certainly don’t want to intrude in a moment of grief or even celebration, but you do want to be resolute on lesser business issues that suddenly impose them- selves. Consequently, here’s what to do when you achieve conceptual agreement in person and before you begin to write the proposal.
- Inform the client that sometimes either of you can be suddenly co-opted.
- Suggest that you therefore exchange private cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses if you already haven’t.
- Agree that a backup plan will be to talk in the evening or on a weekend should a sudden unforeseen issue arise.
Then follow up quickly as I’ve recommended throughout the book before bad things begin to happen to good people who wait.
Obstacle 2: The buyer’s boss becomes involved.
In large organizations, most of your quite legitimate buyers will have quite legitimate superiors. (In small businesses, you’ll find the owner often “reports” to a spouse.) Even though the superior need not provide approval or budget, there are times when your buyer may deem it politically correct to mention the project.
This becomes a problem because none of the underlying value has been established with the superior, and you have no relationship or credibility with the superior. In larger projects, the buyer’s boss may reasonably say, “That’s a substantial in- vestment. Are you sure it’s the best approach?” And with that simple, reasonable question, the buyer may say, “I do, but if you have other ideas. . .” out of a sense of primal survival need.
In the light of such a possibility:
- Ask the buyer if any of his or her superiors need to be apprised or involved prior to sending the proposal. Offer to meet with them at any time.
- Suggest to the buyer that the contents of the proposal are heavily dependent on the intimate understanding and collaboration achieved by the two of you, and others may not appreciate the value and ROI but merely look at price.
- Ask if there is anything at all you can do to help with internal acceptance if that’s an issue.
- After the fact, urge the buyer to introduce you to any inquiring parties because “It’s unfair for you to market my abilities and approaches, and I can’t allow you to be in such an awkward position.”
Obstacle 3: The buyer and/or you have erred.
Sometimes the buyer has believed that some assumptions are facts (i.e., turnover rates or average sales amounts). Sometimes you will be in error on your projections (the percentage increase in sales expected will be only in two areas, not all five). These errors are discovered after the buyer reads the actual proposal, which is really why you’ve submitted it and the buyer is reading it!
At this point it may seem obvious to merely correct the errors and resubmit the proposal, and that is what you would do. However, you may be doing so with far less value than originally estimated and therefore less ROI, consequently too high a fee. So here are ways to avoid those unpleasantries in case their ugly heads arise:
- Always maximize the value statements from any one objective. Example: The simple objective to increase profits could generate impact (value) including increased investor attraction, better retention of top talent, higher investment in R&D, and larger bonuses.
- Stress that you’re taking the low end of the range of possible value, or cutting estimates in half. Be very conservative, to demonstrate that there is the potential for much more.
- Maximize the number of objectives in the proposal, which may include revenue, profit, stress reduction, higher visibility, more productivity, less cost, and so on.
- Ensure that you have three solid options, the least of which provides strong value.
- Stress in objectives and value the personal, emotional impact that will be achieved for the buyer.
In providing for these elements, you can go back to the buyer after errors are discovered and point out that there is still huge value and ROI; that a lesser option may now make sense; that the errors are inconsequential; and so forth. You don’t want to have to rewrite your proposal but merely have the buyer see that the return may be 12:1 instead of 17:1, or that the emotional gains are still quite present, and that there’s no point in making any revisions.
“Bad” things can happen, often suddenly, but their simple occurrence shouldn’t be cause for despair or to give up the ship. Some, as you can see, are preventable if you take the right actions early. Others can be dealt with on a contingent basis if they do occur. But the key is that there are things to do, actions to put in place that can minimize this not infrequent stalling point.
It’s a shame to have proceeded this far only to let anything less than a natural disaster get in the way of the value you’re capable of delivering to your client. Hence, it’s incumbent on you to deal with the rapids that sometimes abruptly appear downstream.