“Never go to purchasing or legal alone. Remember, these people would buy a pacemaker from the lowest bidder.”
- A lesson from Roy H. Williams‘ Monday Morning Memo
“The Wizard of Ads,” as Roy is known is a Difference Maker. He and Seth Godin are the voices that have shaped as much of my marketing beliefs as any other experience in my career. They just plain get it.
As a sales pro we simply have to grasp that a Request for Proposal (RFP) or any oblique, broad-based procurement function is designed to remove the differentiation from purchases that should be based on differentiation.
If we’re buying nuts or bolts, maybe the lowest bid is the best bid.
Unless those nuts and bolts are for the door of an airplane or the fuel tanks on a manned space ship, for example. Or in the case of professional services, unless the service rely on trust, mutual understanding of the inner and outer workings of the relationship.
If a Client wants to issue an RFP, ask, “Why?” Ask “If price weren’t the determining factor, what would be?” And how will your RFP get you both those things and the best “price?”
Value matters most to Difference-Makers. And price is not a synonym for value.
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