What Public Sector clients won’t tell you

I spent 20+ years in enterprise sales-oriented organisations. These fantastic companies taught me about customer service, identifying client needs, addressing issues, and helping clients make purchasing decisions.

Regardless of industry and size, companies worldwide spend thousands to millions of dollars each year teaching their sales folks how to help customers buy and sell to customers. There is a large and quite successful industry around this, and many techniques are used. All are ethical and taught because it is seen as a differentiator between one company and the other.

However, the sales methodology becomes so successful that many companies in one sector—say, tech—start rolling out the same methodology, and it becomes less of a differentiator. Until the next sales methodology comes along, and the cycle repeats. Somewhere, someone is making money. But I digress.

Caveat: I am NOT representing the Public Service or sharing information that has been shared in confidence. These are observations and lessons I have learned throughout my career and in the past six years of being “independent” and giving voice to that experience.

The sales methodology cycle

As a seller, many a training course will drum certain things into you: understand the value proposition. What is the compelling reason to act? What is the business problem the client is trying to solve? What impact are they trying to drive? Do they understand industry trends? Have you identified the client’s NEEDS? Who is making the decision? Are you challenging/teaching them? Do you know why they want us, not the other vendor/supplier/consulting house? The list of questions drones on.

Exceptional salespeople (and companies) do a very, very good job of understanding as much as possible about the client, their problem/challenge/opportunity, and how to help. Where to add value and how to drive an impact. But that is not what I want to talk about today.

The Public Sector challenge

Since 2018, I have spent more time on the client side—as an independent advisor or, as a friend says, a “client agent”. So, I want to talk about what public sector clients cannot, or will not, tell you.

No matter how informed you are about their business or department, no matter how “in the circle” you are, public sector clients cannot and will not tell you everything you need to know to answer all those qualifying questions your boss/sales manager/VP of something is going to ask you. Not without spending a CONSIDERABLE amount of time, money, and effort. And even then, no guarantee.

There are many reasons public sector clients cannot tell you certain things. Some make sense, and some will never be understood. The upshot is that public sector clients cannot share everything with you, the vendor, by the nature of being in the public sector. No matter how “strategic” you are or how much they want your product/services/consultancy.

Navigating asymmetric information

Why is that? It could be because of probity—based on public sector values that ensure impartiality, accountability, and transparency in government dealings with external parties. Or maybe they need to do something political or highly sensitive (and they cannot even tell you that).

Or perhaps the person you are dealing with does not know. They might be in procurement, removed from the business problem (although that has been changing in many government agencies). Or the business need was identified weeks, months, or sometimes even years ago, and everyone involved has. Just. Moved. On. You might be dealing with a new team that has forgotten the WHY. This is where I say, if that is the case, you can add value by helping the client rediscover their WHY, but that would be for another article.

It could be because the client got an injection of funds due to a project misspending or a priority shift that only your product could help with (hey, one can dream). Or perhaps a consultant did an analysis, unbeknownst to you, on market solutions and recommended you. And that’s why you got a “blue bird” as the industry calls them.  Nothing blue about them.  You just did not know. And that’s ok.

Maybe the incumbent supplier, the one your company wants to displace, has strict rules in their agreement with the client that makes the cost or pain of change WAY too high for the client to handle. But the client cannot tell you that—because of the binding, confidential agreement they signed with that vendor. For ten years. Yes, you can see that info on Austender or some other procurement transparency website, but you will not know the details. You will think you know. But you don’t. And even if the client tells you SOMETHING, they cannot tell you EVERYTHING.

What to do when you don’t know

It gets more challenging. You can THINK you know. You have built the relationship, spent time with the client and their organisation, and read their strategy. You have tested your assumptions, and the client has answered all your questions in umpteen meetings. They have shared documents, strategy papers, maybe even did workshops with you! So you think: Great, I know. I know the answers, and I know everything my boss/sales manager/VP of something asked of me.

But you don’t. And you won’t.

And why is that? Well, because of the nature of the transaction and relationship. There is always asymmetric information at play. Asymmetric information occurs when “one party to an economic transaction possesses greater material knowledge than the other party.” Asymmetric information can happen simultaneously—your client knows more about their situation than you do, and you know more about your company’s ability to deliver (or not) than they do. By the nature of public sector clients, asymmetric information is always in play.

Practical solutions

So, knowing all that, what can you do? It would help if you were prepared for not fully knowing all the answers to the questions the sales methodology asks—or that your boss/sales manager/VP of something is asking of you.  But that won’t work because you won’t be in the job long….

So what do you do? You, the sales professional who needs to instil confidence in your organisation that spending time, energy, money, and resources on an opportunity with a particular client, is going to yield the results—a purchase order, a contract, a sale—that your company is expecting of you? And just so we are clear, no, using the “the client won’t/can’t tell me” will not wash.  See the above paragraph for why.

In a public sector context, you can only answer the questions as thoroughly as possible based on what the client tells you and what you have verified. (This is a step many seem to forget.) It also helps to pursue opportunities as a team, covering as much of the client as possible with multiple team members and comparing notes regularly without making a nuisance of yourself with the client. Always respect the client’s process and treat it like a significant relationship you care about. Invest in knowing their business and what their challenges are beyond the superficial.

Be prepared to be wrong—and be okay with never knowing why you were wrong. It is a tough call, and many organisations won’t let you be wrong, but know yourself that despite all the work you have done, your public sector client could not, will not, tell you everything to close that sale or make that deal. Dust yourself off and start again. You must be resilient if you want to be in sales. I don’t know many professions where you can get so many NOs and still get up the next day and do it all over again. It is a gift. Enjoy it.

And if all else fails, share this article with your boss/sales manager/VP of something. Written by a sales executive who was in vendor land. One, like you, who can see the impossible situation many public sector clients face. They would tell you if they could. But they cannot. And they will not.

But you can succeed. Many have, and many are favourably looked upon by public sector clients. Be thorough, verify your assumptions, build a solid team effort, nurture your client relationships beyond the transactional, and have a learner and resilient mindset. Remember, public sector clients also want you to succeed—they care about getting a good outcome just as much as you do. So, with that in mind, you will close that deal —even in the face of asymmetric information.

Happy selling! Oh, and as always, if you invest in yourself, the rewards will be unfathomable.

I am curious about what you would add. What’s been your experience or lesson learned engaging with Public Sector clients?

Until next time.

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