| PIC: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lazy-male-callcenter-operative-136429538?src=B5fpmSCL82IL7o_zwRU8QA-3-85 Yep, Yep, OK. So Ya Wanna Do the Master Class?’ After careful deliberation over a new skill I’d like to acquire, I recently made a call to a consultant who provides training on the topic. I began by giving him a potted summary of my “bigger picture” objectives. I was acting on the (ill-conceived, as it turned out) assumption that he’d pick up on my deeper and broader intent, and work with me to identify the precise type of training I would need, in order to achieve my desired outcomes. In my mind, there were some key questions he should want to ask, as a result of the desires and goals I’d just communicated. A Quick Dash to the Close His response? “Yep. Yep. OK. So, you wanna do the master class?” (At which point, I detected that his only interest in furthering the conversation lay in either reciting the subject matter content without too much further discussion or in closing the sale with my confirmed booking.) The problem with this quick dash to the close (or a recital of the course content) is that I hadn’t called up to buy a ticket to a master class. I’d called up with, in my mind, a technicolour picture of what I’d like my world to look like once I’d acquired this new skill. I wanted him, at the very least (given the significant investment I’d be making), to engage in a conversation with me to help determine whether what he had to offer was going to help make that picture my resultant reality. And perhaps (given my only very elementary understanding of the subject matter), I’d have also been grateful for him taking a moment to, in fact, step me back and determine, objectively and selflessly, whether I was about to lean my ladder against the right tree . . . so to speak. But no. His interest in me went no further than, “So, you wanna do the master class?” It’s All About Me So what’s the relevance to bids, tenders and proposals? The relevance is this – and it’s far more direct than it might at first appear: The fundamental sin this consultant committed is the same one that a great number of bidders commit i.e. making a cursory overture to the prospective client at the beginning of the submission, before launching into a bald and/or a self-centric pitch for the service or product. No real “conversation” with the client – nor any great demonstration of prior engagement with, or a well-developed understanding of, that organisation. Just “us and our wonderful product/service”. It’s about as uninterested and self-centric as it gets . . . and it’s more common than not. Here’s How It Translates for the Evaluator What’s in the mind of the client organisation and/or its evaluation team when they read a submission of this nature? A host of unfavourable observations / perceptions / reactions, including but most certainly not limited to: · The well-founded concern that a self-centric submission reflects the likelihood of a supplier-centric relationship throughout the contract – with all the attendant frustrations of such a dynamic. · Nervousness over the risks associated with entering into a long-term, high-value or otherwise significant deal with a service provider who likely doesn’t understand the intricacies of the project or procurement. · Uncertainty over whether the superior virtues the supplier or service provider is espousing, support that client’s specific objectives in all the ways in which they will be required to. And all for the want of the investment of a little extra time and the exercise of a genuine interest in the prospect. |
