The $10 Million Question I Almost Didn’t Ask
We’d worked with a multinational retailer for years but had only ever landed a few crumbs of their telecom budget. The principal contact there, Ed, was a tough nut to crack. We had just bid on, but lost, a nice piece of business with this client. This would have been a significant deal for us, and our management wasn’t thrilled that I lost the deal to our arch competitor, Scientific Atlanta.
An Interesting Aside:
Shortly after we learned that our competitor had won the RFP, I was at our headquarters for a meeting of the entire management team, which consisted of about 50 people. The President singled me out in front of the whole room and asked about the deal, specifically why we had lost. He was trying to come across as being fair-minded with the question, but we all knew he was actually pissed at us for losing this bid.
I will never forget my answer to him. It just rolled off my tongue, “Larry, the one thing I can never protect you from is an irrational competitor.” I will also never forget the looks on the faces of my peers and the senior managers. They were impressed with my quick wit and gumption. My boss told me later it was an epic moment.
Word on the street was that their negotiations with our competitor were not going well, and they hadn’t yet signed a contract. I called Ed and said I’d like to take him to dinner and a hockey game (we had seats in the first row and Ed was a monster Leafs fan!). No agenda. Just a thank you for their business (since we had those crumbs, after all, I could say this with impunity).
I waited until 1/2 way through the third period – a good three + hours since we’d met for dinner – to ask, “So, how is everything working out with Scientific Atlanta?”
Ed hesitated before finally confiding that they were not very happy with their decision, and there might be a way to revisit the RFP we had lost.
This is a variation on the Columbo – a move that veteran salespeople (and cops) use all the time to get information. In this case, it helped me land a $10 million contract and hugely increased my visibility and reputation in the company.
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The Columbo
If you’ve ever watched Columbo — the 1970s detective show starring Peter Falk as the lovably disheveled Lieutenant Columbo — you know the move. The lieutenant would spend 20 minutes chatting casually with a suspect, half-bumbling his way through what looked like a routine conversation. Then, as he turned to leave, he’d pause, cock his head, and say:
“Oh… just one more thing…”
And that would be the moment everything shifted. Because the “just one more thing” wasn’t small talk but rather it was the real reason he was there. This little tactic works in sales too, and out of respect to its namesake, I call it the “Columbo”.
“Hey, one more thing. Who handles onboarding your new franchisees?”Or:
“By the way, are you doing anything different for trade shows this year? I have a few ideas that might help with lead capture.”And boom. That’s the real conversation. It’s not bait-and-switch. It’s just smart sequencing.
