attempt to save money. Frustrated that this longtime customer was trying to
pull them into a price war, the supplier told them that they weren’t
interested in that kind of partnership with a client, i.e., one based on price.
So they told the customer that they would respectfully decline to submit a
bid in response to the forthcoming RFP. But not before they made a rather
unique gesture.
They told the customer that since they weren’t
going to be participating
in the bidding process, but valued the long-term working relationship they
had, they would be happy to help them think through the construction of
their RFP to ensure that they were requesting the right things out of their
next supplier.
Appreciative of the free consulting the supplier was offering, the
customer invited them down for the day, where they spent a few hours
outlining what should be in the bid. The discussions
included advice along
the lines of, “If any supplier tells you the following three things, they’re
wrong. And here’s why.” “If they say you need these four things, you
actually don’t, and here’s why.” “No matter what, make sure that your bid
includes the following two things, and here’s why.” “If any company tells
you those two things aren’t necessary, tell them they’re wrong. And here’s
why. They’re just trying to get you
to buy what they want to sell, but here’s
why you need to insist on these two key things.”
The customer found the advice to be hugely valuable, as these were
points they wouldn’t have thought to consider on their own. Once the RFP
was built, the supplier’s account team looked at it and said, “Okay, well, if
that
is the bid you’re going to put out there, then we’d like to participate
since it describes exactly the kind of partnership we’d like to have with
you.”
This last example in particular illustrates
why this teaching approach
works so well. The content of the rep’s teaching pitch is carefully linked to
the supplier’s unique capabilities. The ability of a sales rep to deliver this
kind of unique insight is arguably the most powerful weapon in the
Challenger’s arsenal and actually the biggest driver of B2B customer
loyalty. We’ll focus on building this kind of teaching capability in
chapters
4
and
5
.