The three simple techniques to get you through the reluctance to call the customer. First and foremost, know what’s allowed and what is not, Second, do not go in cold and Third, prepare how you are going to introduce yourself, and what questions you are going to ask, but do not worry so much about what to say.
At OST, we often get a call to line up proposal support for an upcoming RFP. We hear that “RFP is about to drop, so send us a proposal manager, pronto.” Instead of reaching out to our consultants, however, we first pick up the phone and call the contracting officer to find out whether the RFP is truly expected to drop on the stated date. Sadly, often our prospective clients operate with old capture data. They ramp up, spend the money, and all the while they don’t do the simplest thing – pick up the phone.
Same during the capture process – many times companies COULD find out from the customer what the customer really needs, but they don’t. It’s true that many govies won’t talk to us, and many of us have become gun shy. We are afraid to reach out. We are reluctant to ask for a visit. We get comfortable in that dark cone of silence that the government bidding process becomes at times – and forget to venture out to seek clarity. Or, we feel constrained by our jobs: “I am a proposal manager (or technical writer), and I don’t interface with customers in our organization.” It doesn’t help that your personnel designated to interface with the customer fails to do so as well. As a result, we miss precious opportunities to learn more about our customers’ needs – and to write winning proposals.
People generally lean towards one or the other side of the spectrum: “people people” and “project people.” If you are a people person, you are probably right now shrugging your shoulders and saying that you have no problem calling anyone. If you are more of a project person, like most proposal managers and some capture managers, the story may be different.
In our capture courses, we teach many simple techniques to get you through the reluctance to call the customer. Here are three that may just do the trick for you.
If all else fails or your company has a policy against anyone calling the customer, find someone in your organization who has a relationship with the customer and would make that call for you (and remind them to do so till they do). The more customer visits or calls you make, on your own or through others, the more comfortable you will become at doing it.
Of course, there is a lot more to interfacing with the customer and building relationships.
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