White

Account Executive

How to work on a mega deal without going through an RFP?

I've been hearing a lot about different approaches to closing a mega deal. However, so far, wherever I have a deal with ARR of 150k+, the prospect initiates the RFP process. Have you ever had a mega deal (1M+ ARR), without having to go through an RFP. I'm not taking about government organizations here, but regular companies.

🧠 Advice

📈 Closing

🔎 Prospecting

22 comments

Sort by:

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

You can sell your value to change their mind out of a RFP.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

This is it. The way to win is to have a hand in crafting the criteria.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Love when this is possible and RFPs can be avoided.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

This is the only way I've ever won an RFP

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

this is the way

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

@CuriousFoxis 100% correct.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

@TennisandSales you seem to have a lot of knowledge with the rfp world.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

@white really good question. In my experience you need to have 2 things.

1. buy in from your champion that YOU are the best.
2. a CLEAR differentiator that would make a RFP null and void.

for example ive been able to avoid an RFP before by getting the champion to agree that there is an aspect of our platform, that is super important to them, that noone else has. So they had to go to their leadership and say the RFP would be a waste of time.

if that doesnt work, then you can help build the RFP with them and help them craft questions that ONLY you can really answer. this still drags out the process but at least you know you will win.

this is NOT easy though.

most of the time if they have to go to RFP then its because:
1. you didnt do a good enough job differentiating your self
2. They are REQUIRED to do an RFP
3. They already wanted to choose a competitor

Good luck out there

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Exactly so. Great explanation. This is what I’ve found as well.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

🙌

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

It also depends on the org you're selling to. Some orgs need an RFP for every purchase over a certain threshold. However when I was selling to mid market I did 150k+ deals without RFP. However once I made it to enterprise it seems every deal has some RFP components.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

very true especially in huge orgs

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Sometimes it’s unavoidable. If procurement has a rule that a RFP needs to start once it’s over $X, you just need to make sure all DMs are your champions before the meet with competitors

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This. Or have a template you can share with them that helps them build their RFP.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sorry - not OR - having champions is key, I meant PLUS share the template.

White

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

I agree. Most of the time it's unavoidable. Thus the question.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I am not quite sure. In my previous company, we did try - but we never really got through without RFP. It was their custom process in the company.

White

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

That's a good one @Sunbunny31 . I'm already practicing that with some good results.

WhoDey

Opinionated

VP of Sales

Some organizations require an RFP for certain purchases and there's no way around it.

FoodForSales

Politicker

Establish "unique" value

Baylor24

Executive

Senior Account Executive

In my experience it can depend on how your spend aligns with other tools they have. Will your purchase be their only one over $1m or do they have others. When I have had success it has been about attaching myself to the business value. There are tons of solutions out there that can do similar functionality but by understanding how this affects their revenue, costs, time to market etc etc I was able to create a MAP around technical requirements that aligned with their business value.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

White

How to work on a mega deal without going through an RFP?

22 comments

Related posts

Working 8 Figure Deal, concerned may get let go before signature

Deal swiping pt 2