Empathy is key to users' wallets

IT managers prefer vendors to understand their products' benefits, rather than offering flexibility on price, according to a recent report on why bids succeed or fail.

The research, published in Winning Major Bids, was conducted by Luton University and Marketing Business, among 293 companies, of which 34 were in the IT and telecoms sector. The survey looked at 47 bidding activities and found that those companies winning contracts were more than five times as effective at understanding client needs than the unsuccessful bidders.

Suppliers can also improve their chances by understanding their products' total cost of ownership to the user. The survey found that successful bidders were four times more effective at understanding cost of ownership than the unsuccessful ones. IT companies were also at an advantage if they had a strong cor- porate image and they gave their bid team the power to negotiate contract details.

Of the 34 IT and telecoms companies surveyed, eight won more than half the contracts they bid for. Of these, five (62%) were perceived to understand the total cost of ownership to users of their products, compared with just 11.5% of the 28 vendors less succesful vendors.

The survey also found that flexibility on price was relatively unimportant. Some 25% of successful bidders were seen as being effective in this area, against 11.5% of unsuccessful bidders.

The report's editor, Peter Bartram, said users often know who they want to win when bidding starts. 'People think the end of the process is where the bid is won or lost. But bids are won at the start,' said Bartram.