Navigating Sales & Proposals on the Corralling the Chaos Podcast

In a sales meeting with a live event team, one of the salespeople shared that they were ghosted after responding to an RFP.

“I’m really bummed,” the salesman shared. “I met this meeting planner, and we really hit it off. I was hopeful it would be the start of a lot of new business and a great working relationship.”

Karl looked around the room at the sales team. “What do you think he should do next?” He asked.

The team responded with the obvious - calling, emailing, other follow ups - all things that the salesman had already been doing.

Karl nodded. “I have a question for you. Do you want to win this specific show from the meeting planner, or do you want to capture as much business as possible in the future, too?

There were chuckles around the room. “Obviously we want as much business as possible.”

“Then why are you treating this entire relationship like it’s about one RFP?”

As salespeople, it’s natural that we’re hyper fixated on closing the sale in front of us. However, when every interaction we have with the client is filled with pressure to buy, we forget what matters most: figuring out how you can be of service.

“What do you think the meeting planner might need?” Everybody was quiet. Karl went on. “What do you think her daily life looks like? What problems is she trying to solve for her clients? How can you help?”

Suddenly, the ideas started flowing.

“We could show her some of our favorite venues.”

“We’re producing a gala in two weeks that we could invite her to. It’ll give her some inspiration and show how our team works with clients onsite.”

“There’s a networking event coming up in a few weeks. We could see if she wants to attend with someone from our team.”

The conversation about this meeting planner, and the strategies we were using, switched from pestering her about a single proposal to finding new ways to provide value.

During his appearance on the Navigating Sales & Proposals episode of the Corralling the Chaos Podcast, Karl shared why good proposals should include more than a gear list and a quote. Instead, they should show an understanding of the client’s needs, share ideas that inspire, and tell a story about what it’s like to work with you. Most importantly, the entire sales process should prove that you’re a partner, not a vendor.

Check out the full podcast on the Lasso website to learn more!