Decision Criteria

Decision criteria are the points on which your prospect makes choices. Think of: price, delivery time, experience in the sector, technical specifications, support, implementation time. Each buying committee member has their own criteria. The CFO looks at ROI and contract terms. IT at integrations and security. The user at ease of use. Procurement at price and vendor stability. The biggest mistake: not finding out criteria early enough. Salespeople present their standard story and hope it fits. That doesn't work. You need to ask: "What will you ultimately choose on?" and "How do you weigh these criteria – what's more important, price or speed?" Even smarter: influence the criteria before they're set. If you're strong in implementation speed, make sure this becomes a heavily weighted criterion. Ask: "How important is it that you go live within 4 weeks?" and show what delay costs. Then speed suddenly becomes a deal-breaker for competitors who need 12 weeks. Make the criteria explicit. Ask if you can put them on paper: "I want to make sure our proposal aligns exactly with what you find important." This gives you control and prevents surprises. Watch for unspoken criteria: many deals fail on things not in the RFP but important, like "we want a vendor who understands our culture" or "the CEO wants a known name".