Why We Say “No” to Prospective Clients

When you have a tight deadline or you like what you hear about a training program we did for another organization, you might say, “Can you send me a proposal?”

Sorry.  We have to say, “No.”  

And then we say, “First I’d like to be in ‘Discovery’ with you. 

“Here’s why. Suppose you hear that John ordered a pair of shoes from us and that he REALLY likes them. So, you say, ‘Great, send me a pair.’   We send them and you’re sooooo disappointed. You wanted hiking boots; we sent dress shoes. What was right for John isn’t right for you.  A good thing about working with us is that we’re not an off-the-shelf kind of training firm.
 
“Here’s how we’ll work with you. Your project will have 4 distinct phases:  Discovery, Design, Delivery, and Debrief.  We want to hang out in the Discovery phase a little longer, so that when we do propose a training plan for your organization, you’re involved and it’s a perfect fit. 

“May I tell you a bit more about these 4 phases?”

Discovery – We engage in exploratory conversations with you and other stakeholders.  The goal is to develop a picture of your organization’s past, present, and future, so we can understand how you want to use the tools of networking and collaboration. 

Design – Taking into account what we’ve discovered, including your goals, possible formats, the number of people to be trained, length of time they can devote, the characteristics and learning styles of the audience, and your budget., Then we put our heads together to design the very best, customized training program you can imagine.  That’s when you’ll get that proposal! 

Delivery – We will select the very best, most experienced, professional instructor from our cadre of exceptional trainers. He/ she will provide state-of-the-art learning sessions that are upbeat, practical, interactive, and most of all customized to your specific needs.  

Debrief – We meet with you to assess the program outcomes, the audience feedback, the program’s impact on the initial need identified, and the next steps for skill development in the competencies of networking and collaboration.

If this kind of approach makes sense to you, give Lynne Waymon a call at 301-589-8633 (near Philadelphia).  But please don’t say, “Send me a proposal!”