Sales Excellence

MAY 21, 2013

One of our global clients recently shared with us that this year nearly 60% of enterprise-level sales opportunities they are engaged in include a Request for Proposal (RFP) as part of their buying process. There are two predominant schools of thought on the subject: One that suggests we simply DON’T respond to RFPs (i.e.,

Proposal 31

Proposal How To Strategy Closing 31

PandaDoc

OCTOBER 14, 2020

The Request For Proposal (RFP) process is broken, flawed, and disorganized. While the editing team can choose a single style and commit it to the guide, RFP creators need something a bit more flexible. To fill that need, RFP automation software exists. Sign 1: It takes too long to complete each RFP. Souce: GovLoop.

Proposal 139

Proposal Software Software System 139

Hubspot Sales

AUGUST 21, 2023

In a solicited business proposal, the other organization asks for a request for proposal (RFP). If they've sent you an RFP, make sure you read it carefully, so you know exactly what they want. A solid proposal can outline your value proposition and persuade a company or organization to do business with you. Know exactly what you need?

Proposal 98

Proposal Examples How To Social Media 98

DiscoverOrg Sales

MARCH 17, 2016

If your foot in the door to a target client starts with an RFP/RFI, spend some serious time on the content of your answers. And you can make it show through your RFP/RFI responses. Once you have an answer you’re proud of and passionate about, you have to be able to communicate it and prove it. Messaging is important.

Vendor 120

Vendor Decision Maker Hiring Industry 120

Pipeliner

OCTOBER 31, 2018

If you don’t believe me, try reading through the top three bid responses of a prior RFP. If you want to ‘win’ more bids, more often, then be selective, start doing account strategy work well in advance of the RFP and pull out all the stops for a differentiated response. Even your worst competitor can seem strong by comparison.

Proposal 61

Proposal Comparison Resources Exact 61

Sales Gravy

AUGUST 28, 2020

He said he was just about to put out an RFP." He said he was just about to put out an RFP.". We pulled the list and just picked up the phone and started calling them. We did exactly what you said Alex. All we did was call them up to say hello. In one hour, we sold $1,000,000 in business. We did exactly what you said Alex.

Cold Calling 82

Cold Calling GoldMine Call-back How To 82

DocSend

MAY 17, 2022

While many tools allow sales reps to see whether emails are opened or documents within their emails are viewed, they lack visibility into exactly how prospects engage with the emailed sales collateral (pitch deck, rate card, RFP response, proposal). Sales reps know that an opened email doesn’t accurately indicate prospect engagement level.

Negotiation 98

Negotiation Tools Collateral Hiring 98

Hubspot Sales

AUGUST 21, 2020

Instead of overwhelming customers with every bit of information about your product and its features, outcome selling helps you deliver the exact details your customers want to hear — and as a result, they’ll be more eager and ready to buy. What is outcome selling? That’ll surely encourage you to give outcome selling a second thought.

Proposal 130

Proposal Loyalty Demographics Face-to-face 130

Chorus.ai

MARCH 26, 2020

Start by working backwards: reverse-engineer your sales funnel by each opportunity stage, moving from closed deal to RFP to demo to first meeting to.(you Obviously, this is the exact opposite of what you’re hoping to achieve.) Too often, sales managers will spin up contests at random, when energy seems low or they need a quick lift.

Top of Funnel 76

Top of Funnel Webinar Metrics Competition How To 76

A Sales Guy

DECEMBER 10, 2011

In cases like this, which our research shows can be nearly 20 percent of all sales opportunities, the customer will assign a more junior member of their organization to field an RFP and meet with other possible vendors. ” But even in this early stage of the sale, Challengers know better. But that’s exactly what a Challenger does.

Buyer 90

Buyer Vendor Decision Maker Face-to-face 90

Partners in Excellence

SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Ultimately, they develop RFP’s or requirements document, saying “We don’t care about your questions, we just want answers to our questions.” We use questions as weapons or as forms of manipulation. Our customers recognize this! They understand exactly what we are doing and don’t tolerate it.

Maximizer 95

Maximizer Lead Rank Lead Scoring Promotion 95

Partners in Excellence

APRIL 24, 2018

Did You Write The RFP? Sales people are usually happy that they’ve identified these, and focus intensely on how they help the customer achieve them. But in narrowing their and the customer’s focus too quickly, they fall into a trap… The competition is doing exactly the same thing! Deal Value Or Buyer Value?

Strategy 56

Strategy Groups Education Exact 56

Fill the Funnel

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

In sales, consider the RFP. There are typically many collaborators in an RFP response of Proposal. From here, you can edit, add to and re-arrange the cards by dragging and dropping, resulting in a visual view of how your document is structured, what order your points are made, and the flow of your ideas.

Tools 110

Tools Top of Funnel Proposal Funnel 110

Crunchbase

JUNE 22, 2021

To an extent, sales forecasting will always be more of an educated guess and never an exact science. Sellers need to offer real value to customers by solving pressing business problems in every conversation.

Forecasting 98

Forecasting Sales Forecasts Face-to-face Proposal 98

A Sales Guy

MARCH 24, 2012

“I’m just not interested…” and then you see the new RFP, one you could have helped them write to get a more profitable and productive outcome. People lie to salesmen all the time. We do it because salespeople have trained us to, and because we’re afraid.

Hiring 108

Hiring Course Exact Prospecting 108

Jonathan Farrington

AUGUST 19, 2012

OK, it’s time to own up: When you receive a sales enquiry - or even an RFP (Request for proposal) – do you quote exactly what you have been asked, or do you dig beneath the surface to understand why your prospect has decided that this is what they want? Do you take the opportunity to [.].

Proposal 36

Proposal Exact Opportunity Prospecting 36

DiscoverOrg Sales

DECEMBER 18, 2018

Sales and marketers who have this insider knowledge can quickly reach out to help with helpful solutions – landing opportunities and sales before an RFP goes out, before a prospect downloads a whitepaper or attends a webinar … and long before competing sales teams even know an opportunity exists.

Company 156

Company Prospecting Oracle Transportation 156

Jonathan Farrington

APRIL 29, 2014

OK, it’s time to own up: When you receive a sales enquiry - or even an RFP (Request for proposal) – do you quote exactly what you have been asked, or do you dig beneath the surface to understand why your prospect has decided that this is what they want? Do you take the opportunity to share your knowledge and offer advice?

Margin 37

Margin Lead Rank Lead Scoring ROI 37

Sales Hacker

JUNE 11, 2019

You may help them write the RFP/RFQ. In particular, you cannot trust an RFP/RFQ which is designed to flush out lowest price/minimal spec. The Sandler Selling System emphasizes relationship building, lead qualification, and deal closing. Value Selling Framework.

Sales Methodology 77

Sales Methodology Inbound Lead Rank Consultative Selling 77

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

As a manager for a team that sells RFP software for sales teams and procurement teams, we’ve found out what causes buyers to give sales the silent treatment post-proposal. Our findings are based on feedback from dozens of exasperated proposal evaluators who are just as over the RFP process as you are. In this situation, less is more.

Proposal 111

Proposal Prospecting Vendor Follow-up 111

Cincom Smart Selling

APRIL 25, 2016

It doesn’t matter if you are “ball parking” an estimate, responding to an RFP or presenting a final proposal; your credibility and profitability are driven by correctly pricing your product and services. During the conversation between the rep and the buyer, critical information is shared about the operational requirements of the product.

Margin 63

Margin Up-Sell System Discount 63

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 29, 2023

During these uncertain times, there are fewer opportunities and more competition going after the same exact business. They reply to every RFP and win few, if any. New business is harder and harder to come by. How do most companies ramp up their B2B lead generation strategies? They correlate activity with results.

Referrals 177

Referrals Channels Cold Calling Scale 177

Keith Rosen

FEBRUARY 8, 2014

We manufacture the exact same product as our competition. When we respond to an RFP, all the company cares about is the price. Here are some examples of the type of thinking that certainly doesn’t serve, you, your company and especially, your customers. We are the distributors of the same product that our competitors sell.

Pipeline 120

Pipeline Competition Coaching Objections 120

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 17, 2020

When you get an RFP, do you waste hours searching through email chains, Slack threads, and old documents to find the answers? Loopio’s response software automatically fills in your RFPs based on answers from past proposals. Just go to Loopio.com/saleshacker to test their automation on your new RFP.

Company 102

Company Scale Hiring Revenue 102

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 25, 2020

During these pandemic times, there are fewer opportunities and more competition going after the same exact business. They reply to every RFP and win few, if any. New business is harder and harder to come by. How do most companies ramp up their B2B lead generation strategies? They correlate activity with results.

Lead Generation 409

Lead Generation B2B Lead Rank Lead Scoring 409

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 3, 2020

If RFPs are slowing down your sales team, you’ve got to check out Loopio. It’s the leading RFP response software trusted by more than 800 high-performing organizations across North America. So see how Loopio can help you with your next RFP, go to loopio.com/saleshacker to get a personal walkthrough today.

Scale 69

Scale Call-back Hiring Company 69

Sales and Marketing Management

JUNE 30, 2017

SMM : It’s your feeling that RFPs are a death knell for successful sales. Iannarino : The challenge with an RFP is that it’s a bad buying process, and a bad buying process beats a good salesperson. The RFP process discounts that process far too much. SMM : So what’s the solution when someone asks you to complete an RFP?

Proposal 136

Proposal Face-to-face Film Closing 136

Salesmate

JULY 28, 2020

When should I participate in a request for a proposal and how can I build a strategy that overcomes the limitation of the dysfunctional RFP process? Why is the status quo my #1competitor and how to create an effective strategy to compete against it? How do I manage and collaborate with procurement in a way that creates success?

Lead Rank 103

Lead Rank Buyer Influencer Outbound 103

Seismic - Sales Effectiveness

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

The platforms available today reduce the friction of fulfilling an RFP by providing users with the ability to automate the process, track results, reuse templates, quickly customize a proposal, and collaborate within an organization. Manage and segment your library of RFP and Security Questionnaire content. Key Features. Proposable.

Proposal 53

Proposal Tools Software Software 53

PandaDoc

JANUARY 17, 2023

It’s a process that is individual for each bid, amassed before the prospect sends you a request for proposal (also referred to as RFP) and gives you a better chance of winning the deal. So, after you’ve built a successful capture planning strategy, its logical conclusion is to receive a request for a proposal (RFP).

Closing 52

Closing Proposal Negotiation Analysis 52

Anthony Iannarino

AUGUST 22, 2019

Unless you are in an RFP and limited to one hour to sell ( strategy here ), you are competing for time. Those who struggle still hold on to the belief that they are going to win large, complex B2B sales by relying on their company’s reputation and their solution.

Competition 94

Competition Strategy Lead Rank Lead Scoring 94

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Sam: What’s your approach to the RFP process and how do you ensure that when you know you’re in a competitive sale , you’re still positioning yourself in the best possible way? Chris: There are some telltale signs that an RFP is actually a smoke signal from a buyer that there’s a problem. The Power of “No”.

How To 55

How To Enterprise Enterprise Buyer 55

LeveragePoint

MARCH 23, 2018

Value Analyses, just like good case studies, do not need exact data. When you hear “we need to get all the data right,” you have a problem. Sales teams can present good Value Propositions confidently as representative, based on reasonable benchmarks and based on your experience with other customers. Customize your content.

Sales Cycle 20

Sales Cycle Case Study Customer Analysis 20

The Spiff Blog

MAY 26, 2022

It’s always better to look under the hood before you get to the RFP stage, so you can weed out incompatible solutions as you go and spare yourself an unpleasant surprise later on. Problem solved. Except… not exactly. If you’ve decided to invest in any new solution, your work is just getting started.

Incentives 77

Incentives Incentive Software Software 77

Keith Rosen

APRIL 28, 2009

Were you selling based on a bidding process, RFP ’s, etc.? How many calls did you have to make to (get an appointment, close a sale, uncover a new prospect, etc.)? Please share with me what your typical approach would be when cold calling. Describe not only your process but exactly what you said when you were making a cold call.).

Hiring 48

Hiring Cold Calling How To Face-to-face 48

Sales Hacker

JUNE 9, 2020

But to answer your question specifically around training, if you’re looking for efficiency and your one thing is activity right now, you’ve got to drive higher conversion rates of just getting people engaged on the phone and working toward that first meeting and hopefully toward an RFP or whatever the next step is and your sales process.

SalesForce 78

SalesForce Video Call-back LinkedIn 78

DocSend

FEBRUARY 15, 2022

While many tools allow sales reps to see how prospects engage with their emails, they lose visibility into how prospects engage with sales collateral (pitch deck, rate card, RFP response, proposal) once it’s emailed over and most importantly, if those documents were shared with new stakeholders (more on that later).

Top of Funnel 52

Top of Funnel Lead Rank Lead Scoring Collateral 52