Hey guys, this is Steli Efti with Close.io.
Every day I get founders to actually send me emails, typically asking for very tactical
advice in the sales process.
A lot of times founder ask me for advice, especially with the deal with really large
organizations that have very complex buying cycles.
Today Igot an email, I printed it out, because I thought that actually the answer that I
have is going to be really useful and valuable to hopefully others as well.
So I wanted to record it, right?
So I'm going to read you the email real quick.
Subject line was reading: Sales bakeoff advice Here's what the founders said.
She said we got invited to do an RFI process.
RFI is request for information.
A lot of times government agencies and government bodies will actually send out RFIs so that
multiple vendors can give them usually tons and tons of information before they narrow
down who they want to work with.
But a lot of other large organizations do the same thing.
Got invited to an RFI process with a big company.
They sent us the criteria they're looking at.
Is this going to be a waste of time because they did already decide on a provider and
just want to go through the motions of having done some diligence?
Another thing that makes me wonder and worry is if the evaluation is in name only, or if
the criteria are actually really far, because they seem to be somewhat odd, and not super-favorable
to choosing us.
Can we get them to change their criteria at all?
So that was the question that I got sent to me today.
And here is the answer that I have.
Pick up the damn phone and call them.
Right?
That's the simplest piece of advice I can give you.
Here's the biggest challenge that founders have in these kinds of situations.
So you get an email, some large organization that would be an amazing customer requests
information, and now, you are in your head, worrying, what to do or not to do, how to
do what you do, or you decided not to do, and you're trying to come up with all the
answers and all the solutions in your mind.
Which wastes a lot of fucking time.
You're probably going to make mistakes.
Because face it, you don't have enough information.
She doesn't have enough information, she doesn't know anything about them.
She read probably a pretty long email and then had to make a lot of assumptions on what
to do, and now she is second guessing herself if they even should participate in the process
or not, or how to actually make this a winning proposition for them, and a deal that even
has a chance to close.
So here is what you need to do when you don't have enough information...
your first job is to get more information.
Reply to that email and say:
Hey, we're honored to be selected to be part of the RFI process, can we quickly jump on
a ten minute call, we have a few very specific questions to make sure we give you all the
information in the best possible way?
If they don't want to get on a call with you, just send them a list of questions in the
email.
How did you find us?
Why did you decide to include us in the process?
How many other vendors are in the process?
Do you have examples of winning bids in the past that could guide us in terms of what
the most successful way is to give you the information you need?
You just send them a list of all the questions that you need, but even better if you can,
don't do that in email, actually jump on a... if there is a phone number in the email, dial
that number immediately, call them, and say: "Hey, I just got your email, John.
Really awesome that you guys included us.
I need five minutes of your time to ask a few follow up questions and make sure that
we can make a good decision if we want to be part of this or not."
If there is no phone number included just send them a quick reply and say:
We're honored, we're interested.
I need 10 minutes of your time to make sure that we send you the right information and
we have enough context to even make a decision if we want to be part of this, and how we
actually can service you.
Get on a call and then ask them all these questions, all the questions she asked me,
she needs to ask them.
Hey, how did you come up with selecting us?
How many other participants are there?
Is there one of the participants that you guys have been further in the discussion with
than others?
Right?
Let's talk about their criteria.
You said that there's ten things that are really important to you.
Can we go through them really quickly, and can you give me some context on why these
things are important?
Ask all these questions to actually create the context you need to make a decision.
Is this really a waste of time or not?
Can we win this deal?
Is this a good fit for us?
Or not?
And if it is a good fit and we're not wasting time, how exactly do we need to provide information,
how exactly do we need to play this game to win?
Don't make assumptions!
Don't worry about things!
Don't wander off in your mind, what you should and shouldn't do!
Don't even send emails to people, asking them.
The smartest people will probably give very dangerous advice.
You know, advice is nothing else than limited life experience and overgeneralization.
My favorite Paul Buchheit quote.
Pick up the damn phone, or hit the reply button, and ask the person that got in touch with
you to give you more context.
Have them answer your questions, before you make a decision if you want to go after that
large organization, that big company, or not.