Sales Qualification Successfully Bidding For Contracts

Written by on July 31, 2008
Categories: Business Growth, Business People, Business Sales, Success Thinking

 

Posted by: Paul Stanford

Sales Qualification Successfully Bidding for contracts

For 15 years of my life I worked in the sales environment selling ICT solutions to clients. Some of these were very small clients and some were extremely large multinational corporates and Government clients. One thing that became very apparent was the number of times I was being “used” by the clients to benchmark against my competitors. They had no intention of buying a solution from me but they were very professional at making me “believe” that they did. So I wasted a lot of time, energy and money bidding for contracts that were never “real” opportunities and could not be won even if could supply the best product, the best service and the lowest price. They just weren’t mine to be won.

So how did I protect myself against this happening and how can you avoid making the same mistakes. Well it all comes down to a technique called sales qualification. In other words what are the chances of me of winning this tender? Well I have to tell you I have used many and numerous over the years. The vast majority are far too complex and time consuming so I am going to give you one that has served me well for many years for any and all types of opportunities. That is the SCOTSMAN. No I haven’t suddenly become a member of the tartan army – it’s an acronym that I use to remind me what I need to find out in order to qualify a sales prospect. So here is what each letter stands for:

·         S – solution. Do I have a solution to meet the client’s criteria?

·         C – competition. Who else am I competing against for this business?

·         O – originality. What is unique about my solution?

·         T – timescales. Can I meet the timescales required for the bid and to do the work required of the project?

·         S – size. Can my solution scale up to the clients requirements? Is it big enough to make it worth my while winning? Or is it too big for me to deliver?

·         M- money. What is the client’s budget for this?

·         A- authority. Who in the client is responsible for making the decision to award the contract?

·         N – need. Is there a clearly identified need for this project?

If I am in any doubt about the answers to these questions then I would need to find out the answers before deciding whether or not to bid. The SCOTSMAN should help you manage your time better and increase your win rating. Remember to use it at every meeting – the old salesman’s saying ABC should be practiced at every contact with the client. Oh ABC by the way meaning “Always Be Closing”.

Paul Stanford is a Director of 4Momentum http://www.4momentum.co.uk. 4Momentum provides business advisory services to small businesses, charities and social enterprises primarily in Sussex. Services include advice on starting a business, growing and transforming a business and selling a business. Clients typically contract 4Momentum for short periods of an hour to long term consultancy over many months for advice on subjects such as mentoring, business planning, sales and marketing advice, bidding for contracts, raising finance and general business advice. Paul is approved by the UK Government to deliver business advice on their behalf through Business Link and is a member of the Institute of Business Consultants. Visit his blog at http://www.paulstanford.co.uk/blog

Copyright 2008 Paul Stanford

 

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