Buckle up, it's a long one!
This opportunity arose around May of 2022. I had an initial call with the guy who turned out to be my "champion". He shared plenty of info on what they wanted to accomplish. I actively mentioned pricing and how we were probably the most expensive on the market, to which he responded that they don't want to take chances on "cheap" solutions. They know the quality that we are renowned for.
In June I had a discovery call with my champion and the other 5 stakeholders. I made sure I knew what each of the atendees wanted to see/know/learn by the end of the call, determined the spec of our solution, gave them an idea of pricing and time frames we could work in. They wanted the solution in place by April/May 2023 which is still possible if they don't take to long to order.
All of their questions were answered and 2 quotes were issued because they were doubtful of which one of the 2 solutions they would decide on. As the call finished I was told that a decision would be taken within the following 2 weeks.
2 months pass without any news. I warn them about a price rise coming in September. Mr. H responds asking that I "honor the prices on the offers".
On 1st of September our prices went up, so I did the prospect a favour, and on the last day of August I renewed their offer in the CRM. This gave them an additional 30 days to place the order without being affected by the price increase.
I contact my champion to ask if they have bought something else. He says that Mr. H (one of the stakeholders on the previous call) is the man to ask what is going on. So I email Mr. H but receive no answer.
I've never been a fan of chasing prospects, so after another month I mark the opportunity is lost and move on.
A couple of weeks later I get a call from my champion asking when we are delivering our solution. Of course I say "What solution? you guys haven't ordered anything." After this, there are a couple of calls in which Mr. H says he issued instructions to their purchasing department to place the order with me. Someone appears to have screwed up somewhere. A few weeks later I call Mr. H again to let him know they still haven't placed the order. He responds with an email in which he gives me a purchase order number. That's great, but without a deposit in the bank I still don't have an order AND nobody has specified which of the two solutions that I quoted them, is the one they want to order.
Several more weeks to get them to let me know which quote is the one they want to order. Almost at the finish line now, right? - Wrong!
It's now January 2023 and still no deposit, so still no order. I send some documentation to their purchasing department, pre-empting any requests from them, in an attempt to avoid further delays. Several more weeks go by with no significant progress, just an email from someone in their purchasing department who is "checking if they need any more paperwork" from us to register as a supplier on their system.
So, by now it's blindingly obvious that I have screwed up somewhere because I had no idea of what their process for purchasing is. I admit I was frustrated but instead of trying to apply pressure, I went "negative". I call Mr. H and say "Hey, it's impossible for us to supply by April/May this year, so perhaps you would prefer to postpone this order and take delivery for the season in 2024?" He says "no, we wanted delivery for April/May 2023" so it looks like we are still on.
It's now early February 2023. I send an email to all the parties involved saying "We have a price rise coming on the 1st of March but there is still time to order at the old pricing. Let me know if you require any more documentation from us to proceed".
No progress. It's now LATE February 2023. I have given up, but incase they are just incredibly inefficient, last Friday I sent one last email.
No-one likes to decide to buy something and then be hit with a price rise so I basically tell them:
"Prices go up on 1st of March, this is the second price rise since I issued the quotes in July last year and I will make it impossible to respect the old prices. The new pricing will be around $100.000 more expensive.
Last date for being able to place the order (i.e. make the bank transfer) will probably be February 24th. If you intend to place the order after this date please advise me and I will issue a new quote."
I put a total of 8 of the stakeholders/people from purchasing in copy, marked the email with high priority and requested "read confirmation" when sending the email.
So far I have 4 read confirmations and no replies.
What would you have done differently?
What would you do now (apart from forget about it and move on) if you were in my situation?
EDIT: 28th of February the customer made the downpayment. This is now the third major deal to come in right after I had given up on it.
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