When an existing client invites you to bid for a renewal – against your competitors – things can get fraught. Bidding and presenting as the incumbent is different from capturing new business. You have a track record, they know you, it’s harder to offer excitement. It’s a bit like trying to impress a stranger versus trying to impress your own spouse…
Why has your client decided to test the market? Did they have a choice? Are they unhappy with aspects of the service they are getting? Understanding the answer to this question should inform how you position your bid response.
Bidding or presenting as an incumbent, you ought to know what your client is really like better than most. Be careful not to assume anything, and pay careful attention to the language they use and the things they are asking for when you put together your new value proposition. But, at the same time, don’t be afraid to think about the challenges your client faces, and the things that you know are important to their business – both formally and culturally.
If you have done a terrible job the last few years, the client will be influenced by that. Blaming the client for things going wrong doesn’t help hugely either – but you may be able to position poor performance as something that you have overcome, particularly if you can show an upward trajectory. Make it clear that you have learnt from any mistakes, and if necessary explain or allude to improvements that will prevent the same mistakes being repeated.
You may be performing well, but clients get turned-off by being taken for granted. Competitors will be promising the world. Offer realistic improvements and combat unrealistic promises by competitors by injecting a dose of reality by reviewing the assumptions they rest on.
There’s a fine balance to be found between making a client feel trapped, and ensuring that clients understand how much disruption changing suppliers can cause. Identify the major costs – in terms of time, money, the headache of establishing and stabilising a new service, and having to teach a new supplier all over again.
It’s counter-intuitive, but think about it. A competitor will promise change, then spend months setting up a service, getting to know the client, and building trust. In theory, the incumbent can deliver change on day one of a new contract – or perhaps even earlier.
Maybe the client wasn’t ready. Maybe the market has evolved. Maybe you thought that’s what the client wanted then but not now. But you need to expect the question. If you can do all these great things, why didn’t you already introduce them to the account?
No client wants to be taken for granted. Get a professional pitch presentation. Rehearse. Answer the questions. Pay attention to the scoring system your client has introduced – and make sure you answer questions and get points. Don’t assume you know what the client ‘really’ means.
Make sure you understand your past performance. Speak to different people, get different viewpoints. Don’t be complacent – try hard to uncover problems, just in case. You are better off addressing problems than hoping that they won’t be remembered. Sometimes your main client contact can think highly of your service, while important decision makers think you have been under-performing. I’ve worked with a client that found out too late that they had huge problems in one location in Asia, but that things had been hidden internally. Don’t let that happen.
It’s tempting to buy renewals at any cost – but without profit or a clear strategic imperative – what’s the point? Others may come in and bid too low – but that won’t provide your client with stability. You know better than most what the cost to deliver will be, consider being transparent about your margins if you need to combat an under-priced offer.
Leave a commentMaybe you’ve been in this position before. You have a killer sales deck, but you lose the sale. In all likelihood you haven’t lost to a competitor, but to something else entirely. Often the victor is the status quo. In this post, we’re going to teach you how you can develop sales presentations that overcome indecision and beat the status quo. For good.
Sales presentations are the cornerstone of many companies’ sales efforts, yet so often they aren’t given the time and attention they deserve. Thrown together at the last-minute, often your sales reps stand up in front of a sales presentation that's nothing more than a glorified page of notes. Read this article for everything you need to make the ultimate sales presentation.
Sales presentations are important, but 1000s of people each day ignore the principles of sales presentation design and sales messaging and deliver material that is tired, ugly, and ineffective. These sales presentation ideas will help you to easily improve your sales presentation; stand out, engage your audience, and sell more.
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Sarah Walker Softchoice
