First, let's talk about why you might want to walk away from a proposal:
If you're willing to walk, it tends to heighten the prospect's interest in you. This is because they're baffled as to why you wouldn't want to compete for their business.
If you've noticed how a lot of luxury goods are sold, they have wonderful versions of something like, "We're not for everyone" in their marketing. We see it in luxury cars and jewelry and all kinds of things where the brand says, "Hey, we're not doing this for the masses." Suddenly, everyone says, "What do you mean? I'd kind of like to have some of that stuff!" They don't like being excluded.
Second, let's talk about how you might be able to talk away from the prospect's request for your proposal:
Often, when you're being asked for a proposal, it may be simply to validate a decision that's already been made. If that's the case, then there is nothing in it for you to help them at that point.
If the proposal has any lack of clarity about what happens after you give them the proposal, then chances are, it's going to end badly for you. So let's say they ask, "Could you give us a proposal?"
You get to answer:
"We do lots of proposals. It helps if I understand where you are in your process. So let's pretend I give you a proposal that addresses the problem that you hope the proposal would solve, it's within the range of money that you told me you're willing to spend to fix it, and I answer all the questions you have; what happens next?"
And you listen very carefully to that answer, because if there's any ambiguity in it whatsoever, then you're probably being invited to a luau, and your job is to perform the role of the pig.
So how do you walk from the opportunity gracefully, so the door is open when you come back? (That's one of questions we get all the time.)
Let's say they ask, "Why don't you give us a proposal?"
You an answer, "It seems a little premature... Help me understand where you are in your decision process and what things will be most important to you in the proposal."
Listen to what they tell you in response. If you find out that the proposal process isn't going to recognize your unique value, then you still have time to try to inject that recognition into their decision process.
When it looks like you're not going to bid, you say something like, "I appreciate you considering us. I get the feeling a proposal from us would be a little premature. What do you think?"
And of course that's not what they were expecting. So they'll say, "What do you mean?"
"Well, it looks like the focus of this thing is pretty much all about the price of the solution that you appear to want to have. And that solution typically is not the one we do best. People are often focused on the price of the solution instead of the effectiveness of the solution. We do better when the focus is on the effectiveness side. And I've discerned from some of our discussions, it looks like this is pretty much a canned deal and it's price. That's not our strength. So what has to happen for my phone to ring, when it shifts to the other priorities?"
Don't worry about walking away from an unwinnable deal focused on lowest price. Defend your value and keep the door open for the next opportunity when they're ready to value something other than lowest price.
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