Member Article

Two equine ‘friends’ will unseat your sales efforts

Part one - The Trojan Horse

Bid and Tender writers should be aware of a lesson from history. Ignoring it can be costly and will derail your sales efforts. And cost you a lot of money.

’Beware of Greeks bearing gifts’ goes the old saying.

For ten years the Greeks laid siege to the City of Troy, without success. They pretended to abandon the siege and left a wooden horse behind as a gift to the city. The Trojan Horse, built by the master carpenter Epeius, was dedicated to the Goddess Athena. A Greek, pretending to be a deserter, said the horse would make the city impregnable and persuaded the Trojans to take it into Troy. That night, Greek soldiers concealed in the horse opened the city gates, allowing the Greek army to sack the city.

There is a strange comparison to be made in the world of bid writing. A buyer will rarely place business with a single source, unless there are very strong reasons for doing so. Even then he will have to justify his decision, possibly to the Chief Executive of his company or the public sector organisation. So the buyer will approach at least three of his trusted suppliers with the tender package that he has been asked to compete.

Occasionally, two competitors are so busy that they cannot respond. They decline to bid, leaving only one bidder to offer a proposal.

What does the buyer do? He knows that if the remaining bidder finds out what has happened (and he should do if his market intelligence is any good), he will not offer as competitive a price. The buyer desperately needs a competitive bid to whip the preferred source into shape.

So what does he do? He trawls through the Internet for other companies who may be able to do the job. He finds your wonderful website and tells you he has an important piece of business which he feels you can win. He’s been told what a terrific company you are. He simply has to have your bid and wants it in ten days. He virtually begs you to bid.

Do you respond?

In all my 35 years of experience, the answer has always been no.

No doubt there will be circumstances when you can offer something virtually off the shelf that would allow you to respond so quickly. But if that is the case, why weren’t you on the bidders list anyway? If anyone does win such a piece of business, let me know!

The Trojan Horse is after a competitive bid to place against that of one of his preferred sources. In public procurement, if the buyer is asked a question about the number of bidders, he is required to respond truthfully or not at all. Salesmen who have put in bids want to know how much competition they have. They know what to ask and how to interpret the answers. A buyer with only one bid is on a loser and knows it. He needs you, but only until your proposal comes in.

After you have slogged away and put in the proposal, you will find that the buyer does not want to talk. He offers all sorts of reasons as to why the bid is taking so long to evaluate. It will be accidental or a piece of enormous good luck if you have proposed something which is as good as or better than the favoured supplier. After all, he has been chasing the business for months (if not years) and may have even helped write the specification.

So, you’ll be told (or perhaps find out through a third party) that the business has been awarded to the favoured supplier.

You wasted your time.

You can usually identify a Trojan Horse because;

• the tender documents come out of the blue
• the buyer suddenly loves you
• he (or she) wants a fast response.

If you ever have doubts about a Trojan Horse, tell the buyer that you are considering not responding. His reaction will tell you all you need to know. He may get angry. He may even go over your head and try to get your decision overturned. But stick to your guns.

For this reason, talk to your boss or the head of your organisation before informing the buyer of your decision to no-bid. This should guarantee their support.

So, remember these key points;

• Trojan Horses always waste your time
• Do some background work to try and identify them
• Never rush into a response

Be firm but polite and say NO

Part 2 - The Stalking Horse - will be running soon!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by GreyMatters Academy .