1.  Avoiding a bid situation to begin with.

Ok, I know that bids are standard operating procedures in your business. But, I also know that a lot of business is "negotiated." In other words, the customer selects the vendor he/she wants to work with, and then negotiates the best deal with that customer.

I'd much rather that you get yourself into a negotiating rather than a bid situation. So, you'd avoid the bid scenario altogether.

And, while it is true that you'll never convince 100% of your customers to negotiate with you rather than send out bids, if you are, over the next few years, successful in moving 20 - 30% of your customers to negotiating status, you'll see a tremendous improvement in your sales.

How do you earn that position? Build powerful business relationships, be a reliable supplier, and offer a special relationship - "negotiating" - with all your good customers. In other words, bring the subject up regularly, plant the seed in your customer's brain, tell stories about how you were able to work effectively with others - how they cut costs, paperwork and time out of the cycle by working with you.

If you are good, and persistent, you'll eventually convert a significant chunk of your customers.

2.  Making a last look unnecessary.

The whole concept of a "last look" implies that the reason the customer would do business with you is that you are the lowest price of the group of bidders. While there is a time and place to be the low price, I'd like for you to question whether or not this is how you'd like the customer to think of you. If you have done a good job in the past for the supplier, if you have become the low-risk supplier, if you have understood the customer's situation at a deeper level than your competitors, if you have some aspect of your product, service or offer that sets you apart from the competitors, if you have communicated those things in a persuasive way, than the customer should be happy to do business with you even if you are not the absolute lowest price.

In other words, if you have done a good job of selling, than a couple percentage points in the price should have no impact on the deal.

So, rather than try to be the low price, I'd prefer that you do a deeper, better job of selling this account so that you don't have to be the lowest price. And that means that you have created powerful, trusting relationships with the key people, that you have understood the dynamics of their situation at a deeper and more detailed level than any of your competitors, and that you have fashioned a unique proposal that meets their deeper needs.

When you do that, you don't need to worry about the last look.

3.  Insuring that you get a last look.

FREE 30-page "Handling Objections" workbook. Just join Dave's information packed "Thinking About Sales" newsletter, also FREE! Email Address: First Name: Choose the list you wish to join. Ezine for Managers Ezine for Salespeople

Ok, some of your customers negotiate the business with you, and the last look is, of course, not an issue with them. Some of them will buy from you because of the good job of selling you did, and the last look, with them, is not an issue.

But you will still probably be left with those who are going to bid and award the business primarily on the basis of price. It's that group for which you'd like to have the last look.

How do you do that? By achieving excellence in the basics: building powerful, positive business relationships with those key contacts, by understanding their needs in deeper and more detailed ways than any of your competitors, by doing everything you can to assure that your company is highly respected by the customer, and finally, by asking for the opportunity.

What you are really asking for is the preference of the customer. You are assuming that there is no difference between you and your competitor, and there is no reason for the customer to pay a little more to do business with you. Your only hope is that the customer will prefer to do business with you, providing you are the lowest price.

You want the customer to prefer to do business with you, so that they call you for a last look and potential revision of your proposal.

Ask yourself why the customer would prefer you. Then set about becoming the supplier that your customer would want to do business with. And, continually ask for the opportunity to have a last look.

• Power Strategies for Distribution Salespeople... Selling for a distributor puts you in a unique selling situation. While many basic sales principles still apply to you, there are additional, unique challenges rising out of your position as a distributor salesperson. Find out how to handle these differences in this article. {Read More}

• Learning About Your Competition... I'm concerned about what my competition may be doing. I know I should be aware of what they're doing, but I'm not sure how I can find that out. This is an issue that's growing in importance. Our industry is heating up and becoming more competitive. All around us things are changing at an ever-increasing rate. That means that it's more important than ever for you to be aware of what your competitors are doing so that you don't get blindsided or seriously outmaneuvered. {Read More}