3 Ways to Help Salespeople Avoid Wasting Time on Unwinnable Deals

If you’re selling in a complex, B2B sales environment, chances are you’re painfully familiar with the term column fodder. This is where salespeople waste valuable time, selling to buyers that have already made up their mind yet feel the need to get additional proposals to validate their choice.
To add insult to injury, when your solution is nothing more than column fodder, your salespeople may not even get a chance to present their proposal in a face-to-face meeting or on the phone with the client. Column fodder proposals are often requested over email or with the dreaded RFI/RFP.   In some industries, especially those like government agencies that require multiple (and lengthy) proposals, this problem can tank your sales productivity.
Are Your Salespeople Viewed as Problem Solvers or Product Experts?
In our 2018 Buyer Preferences Study, less than one-quarter (23%) of the B2B buyers we talked to said that they turn to salespeople to