Redefining the Customer s Need | Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts

Redefining the Customer's Need

Sometimes the client tells you his or her need explicitly, either by explaining it in conversation during your sales process or by defining it in the statement of work of the RFP the client issues. The trouble is, sometimes the client is wrong.

For example, suppose the manager of a telemarketing operation contacts you because she's unhappy with the sales volume her group is producing. "We need a course on closing techniques," she tells you. "Can you do that for us?"

Well, you can do it, but after observing the company's salespeople in action, you realize that what they really need is a course on telephone courtesy. These people are so aggressive that they cross the line into rudeness. The question is, what do you propose?

The best course is to communicate with the potential client, discuss your concerns or your observations, and try to educate and inform the decision makers before you write your proposal. But sometimes you can't. Sometimes, when you're dealing with a formal RFP released in quantity to many potential vendors, or when you're dealing with a consultant who has written the RFP, or when ego or politics or governmentally mandated procurement rules get in the way, you have to respond to the client's need as it's stated, even if that's not appropriate. And sometimes you must be sensitive to the client's or consultant's need to save face.

You have three basic options in this situation:

Accept the need as defined in the RFP and study the various ways in which you or your company can satisfy that need, identify the best among them, and propose a solution in terms of that approach. In the short term, this is the safest approach to take. Bid on the job as it's been described, try to win it, and then hope you can convince the client to alter the statement of work after you have the contract in your pocket. Unfortunately, what's safe in the short term is risky in the long. You're basing the business relationship from the outset on less than full honesty, and a tough customer who is looking for performance guarantees or service-level commitments may not be willing to approve change documents or authorize additional funding to get a solution that works.
Study the client's situation as accurately as you can, independent of what the proposal may tell you, and redefine the client's need based on your analysis. Use your own definition of the client's need as the basis for the proposal you submit.

Redefining the need is a high-risk approach, particularly when the client has provided the original analysis or has paid a consultant to develop it. Sometimes, though, you really have nothing to lose. For instance, when the analysis has been provided by an outside consultant or a competitor, redefinition may be necessary in order to position your company more competitively. If your competitor has written the RFP, you can assume that there will be nothing in it that favors you.
Do both of the above. Respond to the client's definition of the need, but also offer an alternative perspective. You could discuss the situation frankly in the executive summary as a way of introducing your proposal. State that while you're fully prepared to respond to the statement of work as written in the original RFP, and have included a response that proves you can do exactly what the client has asked for, your analysis has led you to develop another approach to solving the client's problem. In addition, because this alternative approach will be less costly or more effective (or both), you feel obliged to at least present it as an option.

One other technique is to offer a phased approach to solving the total problem. This is a reasonably safe approach to take, particularly when the client hasn't misdefined the need but simply hasn't requested the total solution that he or she needs. By structuring your proposed solution in terms of phases, with each phase priced separately and each phase requiring a joint review of progress and commitment to the next phase, you provide a structure in which the client can change direction without scrambling the budget or losing face.

Twelve Questions for Developing a Consultative Proposal

As you start developing your consultative proposal, answering these questions may help you:

What must I establish about myself and my company so that the client will believe what I say?
What is the key recommendation I am making? How does this recommendation address the client's needs? Have I substituted my own sense of what the client ought to do for what it thinks it needs?
What specific opportunities for improving the client's productivity or profitability am I presenting in this proposal? Have I demonstrated these opportunities in enough detail that the decision maker will find them credible?
What are the meanings of the key words I am using? Will the client understand them? Have I minimized the use of jargon?
How can I contrast my proposal with other, similar proposals? (Try to anticipate how the competition may bid and—preferably without disparaging or naming names—ghost the competition by showing the weaknesses of those approaches and superiority of yours.)
How inclusive (or limited) is this proposal? Could it be focused more narrowly or expanded to include more? Should it be?
How can I prove my claims, particularly regarding potential ROI or competitive superiority for my products or services? What kinds of evidence will this client find convincing? How can I illustrate or support my claims?
What might an opponent say against my proposal? What aspects of my recommendations might provoke resistance or disbelief?
Does this proposal clearly suggest that some sort of action must be taken? Does it indicate the consequences of inaction?
If the proposal includes a prediction or estimation of results, how accurate is this likely to be? What is it based on—factual data, observed trends, comparisons to other situations, intuition, or what? Am I guaranteeing results?
What are the total costs for this client to undertake the course of action the proposal recommends? Does this include both time and money costs? Are these costs linked to a calculation of return on investment, payback period, total cost of ownership, or some other measure of value?
Does my proposal involve the coordination of large numbers of people or resources? If so, does the proposal make clear how this coordination effort will be managed?