Module - Selling Timetables

To bid for a major sale can will take a great deal of time and resource.  Bidding and losing is something of a disaster.  So, it is critical to find out if the prospect is looking at us seriously.  Do we really have a chance or are we just there to make up the numbers, so that there are three proposals?

How can we find out if they are serious about us?  The only way we can test the prospect is by the level of commitment they are willing to give us, early in the sale.

We examine a particular set of commitments.  “If you are looking at us seriously, could we agree a Timetable leading up to the decision?”

Those prospects who are looking at us seriously will have no problem with this question.  Those who are not looking at us seriously will have all sorts of problems with this question, particularly when we start asking for access to key people.  So, Selling Timetables qualifies sales.

If the prospect is happy to set up a timetable then we can use it to structure the sale to our advantage, Deal Shaping.

For example, there is that awful phase of the sale after we have submitted our bid but before they decide.  We call it Death Valley.  During this phase they say they want no contact.  But if that contact had been set up weeks earlier when agreeing the timetable, then access is far more likely.

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