I’m sure the title of this post made you think I was nuts and perhaps crazy. Yes I am competitive – ok very competitive and want to come in first all the time. As I get older it’s about a lot of things. Effort and how you show up are very important.
About a month ago we found out we didn’t get a piece of business that we wanted. Yes we want all business for which we are lucky enough to send a proposal, but this business was a little different.
It was a nice-sized project, and would have given our team a chance to utilize some different skills. As part of the project we would have been given an opportunity to present this to our client’s clients and be involved in the sales process which would have been very cool. Also the main contact at the client is one of the nicest people I have ever met in the research industry. He not only is very intelligent, he is very, very caring about his research partners and kept us informed every step of the way. His communication skills are a benchmark for everyone’s communication skills. In addition, the project was in the sports industry so you can see why we really wanted this piece of business.
Our proposal that we sent was solid. The client narrowed the potential vendors from ten to four and we were one of the lucky four. Next stop: a trip to NY and a presentation in front of the client team which was ten people. Although I was there, I talked very little but rather watched our research team razzle and dazzle the client. Our team of SH and SH was great. They knocked it out of the ballpark and frankly in my mind couldn’t have done anything better. We had a terrific methodology, a great research plan and they both answered all of the clients’ questions like champions.
Frankly I was–and still am–VERY proud of both of them.
Well we didn’t get the business. Our contact scheduled time with our team to review the reasons why we weren’t selected. Side note: don’t we all wish clients would do that? How many times do you send a proposal and NEVER hear back from the client?
The bottom line for me was we not only tried our best, we really performed at a very high level but weren’t awarded the prize. Since we gave it our best, did everything we possibly could, I say "Sometimes it’s okay to come in second!"
- Do you agree with that statement?
- Do you have to win in everything you do?
- What are some of the things you teach your kids about winning and losing?
- Have you been proud of your team or yourself when you have come in second, third or beyond?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Jeremy Bromberg says:
LOL. This is a very practical attitude for a Red Sox fan. Ohhhhh, snap!
Merrill Dubrow says:
Jeremy,
Ouch that hurts! Good luck with your Yankees.
Merrill
Vaughn Mordecai says:
I’m as competitive as the next guy and like to win as much as anyone, but I’d agree that sometimes second is OK.
One of the things that I try to teach the teams I coach (which also applies to business) is that ongoing improvement and development is as important as winning (especially to begin with). The only way you’ll win all of the time is if you develop or grow into it. To do that you have to stretch yourself and step out of your “normal” boundaries. To use a baseball analogy…it’s better to step up to the plate, take a big swing, and miss, then to have never stepped up at all.
Jeff Adler says:
There are times when it is OK to come in second, but proposal submissions are not amongst those times.
It is OK to come in second in the US Open. Being the second best tennis player in the world is an impressive achievement, and it comes with an $800,000 payoff.
Generally, finishing second on a proposal comes with no payoff. Proposals are not like horse racing where they payoff on Win, Place, and Show! Yes, sometimes finishing second on a proposal can help you position your firm to win a future piece of business, but most often that is not the case.
I think what Merrill is really trying to say is that sometimes you can do everything right during the proposal process and still not win. I would not describe this as “OK,” but neither would I describe it as “not OK” — it is just the nature of the beast. Why is this? Because it is frequently possible there will be similarly qualified firms who also do terrific jobs with their proposals, and unlike the US Open or horse racing, most proposals typically pay only the winner.
Proposals like the one Merrill described typically consume tremendous amounts of effort. The only way you can really avoid paying the misfortune of investing in such efforts without a payout is to work to participate only when the number of firms expected to submit proposals is reasonable. Personally, I think a reasonable number is three, and typically no more than five.
When a client is asking more than five firms to submit proposals, in most cases you have to wonder why, and whether or not the client has done an appropriate job of prescreening firms. Yes, if the payoff is big enough (as sounds like the case with the proposal Merrill described), it may be worth the market research firm’s time to submit, even though there are too many submissions. However, in the long run, clients who create a process with too many proposals are:
* Creating more work for themselves (someone has to read and evaluate those proposals
* Increasing the cost of the research, since research firms will have higher overhead to cover by virtue of having to work on losing proposals
I suggest the additional work and the higher costs are NOT rewarded with better proposals. In fact, I could argue the opposite is true.
How do we combat this? By working to educate clients, and when appropriate, by refusing to participate in a process where there are too many proposal submissions.
I will be continuing to do my part when I lecture to undergraduate and graduate marketing research students at The Wharton School next week. I have been lecturing there annually the last several years on “Considerations When Outsourcing Marketing Research.”
How about the rest of you? What do you do to address this challenge?
Michele Zwillinger says:
Merrill, you and Jeff appear to have been flies on the wall at the QRCA Conference where I spoke about proposal writing. My message to qualitative researcher consultants was to consider that they have the CHOICE to respond to an RFP; that they have to set boundaries and qualify the prospect to the degree that they will know not only if they want to write the proposal, but more importantly if they want to work with the client. When they make the choice to write the proposal, however, that’s it. Win or lose – no complaining. Just learn from the experience.
That said, Merrill what you said about your client and what Bob says that he did, the key is getting the client to communicate with you…before, during, and most importantly after the proposal is written and the project is awarded. If we could get that to happen regularly, we would all write better proposals and come in first more often!
So guys, how do we motivate clients who are too busy to read the whole proposal to respond to our calls and emails after they’ve chosen someone else (or even after they’ve chosen us)?
Paul Kirch says:
Hmmm… I guess aging does change things a little, but I was brought up to believe that second place was first place loser. Best of the worst, as they’d say.
When I played billiards competitively I used to play against some very good players and had to learn to lose before I could win. Of course I hated to lose, but it made winning that much sweeter. In business I sometimes forget that you have to lose some to appreciate the wins. We recently had an experience similar to what you described. We had a client that looked at 5 suppliers and narrowed it down to 2. We ended up losing the business. Why? Well, we put together a very consultative proposal which required us doing a face-to-face discovery meeting. Our contact actually started feeding us a ton of information before our meeting and did some analysis we thought we’d have to do at their office. He worked so hard to get us set up, that we answered most of what we planned to address in the discovery meeting. Therefore, when we got there, it was more about clarifying and qualifying what we already had uncovered. Unfortunately, they were still expecting the in-depth discussions. The feedback we got was that their leadership team was expecting to be put into a workshop mode, but that wasn’t necessary with all of the pre-work that went into it. It’s the first time where we were “too prepared,” which lead to a feeling of not providing the value we proposed and they expected. In this case, it was a great lesson learned, so second place will ultimately be better for my business long-term. We had to learn to lose to appreciate the next one’s we’ll win.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Paul,
I agree with what you said sometimes you need to lose to appreciate the wins and also since it is a numbers game losing does get you that much closer to a win.
I truly believe we acted professional with this client and showed our research strength. No doubt this will lead to more potential with this account which in turn will lead to revenue.
Great topic.
Thanks again.
Merrill
Michael Halberstam says:
There are many ways to look a this. But if you have high standards and great people where you place in any one area or project shouldn’t matter. If it is a recurring theme then further examination is necessary. Personally, it really does matter how you play the game. Over the 27+ years we’ve been in business, we’ve won some and lost some. We’ve continued to grow not only the company but the team. Overall, I think we’ve had a 27 year winning streak.
Ed Case says:
Why do you think I play golf? I can come in second and still win (with a proper handicap). Unfortunately, it rarely works for me…..
Richard Weiner says:
During the 18 years that I managed the Richard Weiner public relations firm, we came in first many times but, of course, not always. Upon hearing news of the rejection, I thanked the prospective client for the opportunity and suggested that we keep in touch. In a few cases, we got the business on the second bounce. In several cases, the PR director moved to another company, contacted us, and we got that business.
I also called the PR firm that came in number one and extended my congratulations. In two cases, we became good friends and exchanged leads, particularly when we could not handle them because of conflicts.
Of course, I also met with the presenting team to commend them and see what we could learn, particularly if there was feedback from the prospective client.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Richard,
Appreciate your comments. This client was amazing to deal with and it wouldn’t surprise me if this led to a friendship for a very long time.
Merrill
bruce nelson says:
While provocative as a title, I think it’s misleading. I would amend it to say, It’s okay to come in second only if you learn from it.
The first area of learning always must come from the client and this feedback is critical — after every major pitch. When I speak with clients I indicate that we cannot improve our offering unless we get unvarnished and objective feedback. Almost every major client has appreciated and understood the sincerity of this request. I further state that I will not ask for more than 30 minutes and will do it at their offices if it’s practical; otherwise the phone works just fine. Finally, I make it a point to say very little in this session, if I say anything at all. After all, this is my opportunity to hear from them and I want all the time dedicated to that candor.
The second area of learning can happen only right after a pitch. No matter how well everyone thought it went, the group must objectively analyze each individual part of the presentation. This should be brutal and start with the most senior level person. If you don’t capture how each could have been better right at the moment, you’ll never capture the subtle nuances that need to be addressed in the future. While many think this is a vibe killer I genuinely believe that excellence is something that must be addressed every day. No matter how good we think we are we must learn how to consistently be at the top of our game — right after the game ends.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Bruce,
Really good comments. I believe that there is something to learn in every presentation and every proposal we submit. I also like your idea of following up with clients and asking them for 30 minutes to debrief. This strategy works with some clients while others you have dead air and they don’t respond. I wish every client had the time to do this but some say they just don’t and respond with an email. Any best practices to get prospects/clients more engaged?
Thanks.
Merrill
Bob Graham says:
From the perspective of someone who has sat on both sides of the desk, I think you’re being a bit limited in your thinking. It sounds cliche, but the objective is if you can’t win the battle, you can still win the war. Your objective should be to establish an ongoing relationship with a client so that you gradually get an ever increasing piece of their business. If you did a good and through job of addressing the research problem and providing an actionable plan, you will be invited back. You have the advantage of getting and getting good positive exposure. You become a known entity rather than the “new kid on the block”.
I used to advise potential vendors that it usually takes about 3 proposals with a company before you get a successful engagement. Part of this is just getting to know each other (and remember, ours is a business of trust, strategy and insight, not just data and statistics). When I invited vendors to compete, I always let them know where they stand. I have for instance, told vendors that company x is favored and has done work with us before, but if you want to try to compete against them, I welcome your proposal. Most potential vendors took me up on this. I also call all vendors who submitted a proposal and give them feedback on why we made the decision we did.
You only “lose” is you act unprofessionally– if you whine (I actually had one potential vendor tell me that he had been burned by my company before–so I never called him again) or trash the vendor who was awarded the project. As Tina Fey says, “That’s a deal breaker, ladies (and gentlemen).”
One comment on Jeff’s clients-making-more work-for themselves comment. It’s no picnic to wade through 50 page proposals, particularly when you know that they’re all boilerplate. I swear I think some people thing that clients by research by the pound. When I get a big proposal, I skim to the objectives and the methodology. If you don’t convince me there, I stop reading and go on to the next proposal.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Bob,
Appreciate your comments. I totally agree agree with you. The process should be about establishing a relationship moving forward. One of the reasons I said it was ok with our team to come in second was that we were able to connect with the client. One of the reasons we lost the business was that there was a team of 10 people who got to vote. I believe we did get some of the votes of the team. Since we didn’t win this piece of business I have had a chance to follow up with the client and in fact had a great lunch less than a month ago. We continued to get to know each other and evaluate ways that our two companies can work together.
Thanks again.
Merrill
Malcolm Williamson says:
Just being in the game is winning!
I know many people and many companies who constantly are driven to win at any cost (including impropriety). Winning is so important to them that they lose site of the goal.
Playing a good game is key.
Merrill Dubrow says:
Malcolm,
Appreciate your energy and comments!
Merrill
Scott Waller says:
The story made me think of the times where the business was won…and that doesn’t always feel like victory. Every situation and outcome teaches us something if we are fortunate.