In this episode of the Sales Today Podcast, Fred Copestake challenges one of the most accepted assumptions in B2B and engineering sales:

That an RFP or tender represents the start of an opportunity.

The reality?

By the time an RFP reaches your inbox, many of the most important decisions have already been made.

Fred explores why tender-led sales processes often create pricing pressure, reduce differentiation, and leave sales teams reacting rather than influencing. He explains how customers typically shape their thinking long before suppliers are invited into the conversation - defining problems, solution structures, evaluation criteria, and sometimes even preferred vendors.

In this episode:

Why RFPs are rarely the true beginning of the buying journey
How customers define "what good looks like" before suppliers engage
Why sales teams struggle to differentiate during tender processes
The hidden reason margins become squeezed
The difference between reacting to opportunities and shaping them
Why the real sales opportunity happens before the tender exists
The role of the salesperson as a "sensemaker" during complex buying decisions

Key Takeaway

If you are only engaging when the RFP arrives, you are entering a process that has already been structured by someone else.

The earlier you engage in the customer's thinking process, the greater your ability to influence outcomes, create relevance, and avoid competing purely on price.

Questions to Consider

How much of your pipeline is driven by tenders?
How early are you engaging in your customer's buying journey?
Are you shaping opportunities - or simply responding to them?

Mentioned in this episode

The Collaborative Selling Scorecard - a free tool to assess how aligned your sales behaviours are with modern buying environments.. https://collaborativeselling.scoreapp.com/

Connect with Fred

https://linktr.ee/fredcopestake

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Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CtUvzDVZmh4

Watch the full mini series playlist here