Are You Too Focused On The Decision Maker?
Written by Kevin Sasser on July 21, 2008
“Gentlemen, before people start filing in for your presentation, I just wanted to let you know, off the record, that there is absolutely no way that you are going to earn our business. So good luck.”
So yeah, weeks worth of phone calls, hours of internal meetings, and thousands of dollars in travel expense were rendered worthless in one sentence.
And this was before we even got started.
So what happened?
In our team’s collective “group think”, our system was so new, so cutting edge, it was obvious that anyone who witnessed a demonstration would cast away all doubts and reason and immediately hurl purchase orders in our direction.
Naturally, we took pity on those ignorant fools who refused to recognize our incredible potential and instead relied on mundane criteria such as an established client base, financial stability, or a clear, concise value statement.
When we encountered one of the “unenlightened” in a project at a mid-western company, we did the logical thing, and went above their head.
