Prospects weren’t likely to pry open hardware when testing it, so they thought they were seeing an equal product at a lower price. The competitor immediately backed out of these sales, and the hardware company started winning deals again. Hyundai stated this result was completed while reducing its dependency on fleet sales, which were down 33 percent and represented 15 percent of total sales in November. If you find sales breaking down at the same stage, ask if it’s a matter of inadequate sales training or perhaps a sign that you need to revamp aspects of your products or services. The thing with presentation skills, however, is that to most it doesn’t come naturally and they focus on the facts and features of their products or service. Last year, however, company executives were shocked when they lost a contract with one of their largest customers, and they lost to a much smaller contender with fewer resources. “Over the last two years, banks have taken in some 40 tons of gold that people had stashed under their beds.

You may find yourself making accusations against Board members or executives at the prospect company, for instance, and those people may have friends or peers within your client and prospect businesses. Do this and people will have excellent first thoughts about you! Which Salespeople will Thrive and Who will Dive as the Going gets Tough? The above are just a few examples of dishonest sales practices adopted during tough times. Fraudulent practices are widespread with many players selling inferior goods to unwitting buyers pertaining to be the finest qualities. When the technology company learned that these “resellers” had no intention of selling its solutions, it swiftly severed its relationships with them. Way back in 1987 (and some even now) there were stocks that were selling for 22 times earnings. 2. Go back to the prospect. Don’t be afraid to go back and open a discussion about adjusting the time frame.

These laws promote open records and guarantee public access to information held by the government entity. If the prospect is a government entity, you may be able to access the other proposals submitted, or at least the winning proposal, thanks to “Sunshine Laws” (there’s a federal version of this and many state ones as well). Be clear that you’re not pursuing the sale, and find a way to offer value so the prospect wants to speak with you. Contact all internal champions within the prospect company. 3. Seek out your internal champions. Business leaders will shine the IT-signal in the air and hope that technology will get them out of another bind. A staffing company’s business clients renew their contracts annually by following a standard procedure: Clients send out RFPs, and this company rebids for the business. Since the staffing company provides excellent service at a competitive price, it has a history of repeatedly winning these “easy” sales to existing clients. Could they be misrepresenting your product or company? A mobile devices vendor began losing sales to a competitor, even though executives knew they had the better product and salespeople were doing their jobs well. Armed with this knowledge of their rival’s deceptive practices, the vendor’s salespeople began advising prospects to insist that all test devices be opened up on-site.

They found a small footnote on a single page of their rival’s proposal that became sufficient grounds for a lawsuit. These are typically included in the original RFP documentation, and they can provide grounds to pursue legal recourse should you choose. If you suspect a problem pertaining to a proposal you submitted, your options vary depending on the size and nature of the company issuing the RFP. 5. For proposal issues, understand your options. When this friend subsequently submitted a proposal that–line for line–matched or beat the incumbent’s proposal, the Board member argued on his friend’s behalf. One of these Board members, in his eagerness to help a friend whose staffing business was struggling, quietly (and illegally) provided his friend with a copy of the proposal submitted by the incumbent staffing company. If an area is known for bank failures or bank frauds, no one would divert his or her savings to a bank simply on the basis of higher returns.