12 reasons why your offers are rejected

Bild Infoteam Sales Process Consulting AG

During a business lunch, an acquaintance told me that he had this problem: although he was receiving enough inquiries, he always got “very far” with these inquiries but ended up losing with far too many offers. One reason could be the inadequate qualification of offers. For this purpose, I posted the blog “Don’t ride a dead horse” last week. But there can also be other reasons why offers are rejected. 12 of the most frequently mentioned reasons are summarized in this blog. Good selling can be learned, because #SalesIsACraft

In cooperation with our partner, we regularly conduct a survey on the topic of B2B sales. In connection with the topic “Why do we win orders and why do we lose orders, the participants told us why they lose orders:

  1. No clear description of our solution and/or price

  2. The summary (management summary) was not good enough

  3. The customer’s expectations regarding the richness or depth of the offer could not be satisfied

  4. The client’s current situation and needs were not understood

  5. Project plan and/or implementation plan were unclear

  6. No sufficient information about the realisation team

  7. No details on the benefits of the different buying influencers (stakeholders, buying centre)

  8. Risks and their mitigation unclear

  9. No reference information enclosed

  10. No or insufficient quantification of the benefits for the buying influencers

  11. No or insufficient differentiation from the competing solutions

  12. Too much generic text from the marketing brochure