What’s the Prize If I Win?

Posted on September 29, 2013 Updated on September 2, 2026

In consulting and in sales, there is a tendency to believe that if you show someone how to find that proverbial “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” they will be motivated to do so.  Seasoned professionals will tend to ask, “What problem are you trying to solve?” in order to understand whether there is a real opportunity.

Sometimes a mere pot of gold just isn’t enough to motivate. Usually the motivation is something very personal. What’s in it for them? Not, what’s in it for me?

The skill is determining what is really important to the decision maker and in what order, then showing how the proposed solution will bring them closer to achieving their personal goals.

Case in point. Several years ago, I was trying to sell a packaged Business Intelligence (BI) system developed on our database platform to customers most likely to need it. Qualification performed – check. Interested – check. Proof of value – check. Quick ROI – check. Close the deal – not so fast…

This application was a set of dashboards with 150-200 predefined KPIs (key performance indicators). The premise was that you could quickly tailor and deploy the new BI system with little risk (finding and validating that the needed data was available to support their KPIs was the biggest risk, but one that could be identified up front). The business impact and ROI were there, and we could deliver tangible value at half the cost of a typical similar implementation. Who wouldn’t want that?

I spent several days onsite with the prospect, identified areas of concern and opportunity, and used their data to quantify the potential benefit. By the end of the week, I could show the potential for an 8x ROI in the first year. Remember, this was estimated using their data, not random or industry figures. Being somewhat conservative, I suggested that even half that amount would be a big success.  Look – we found the pot of gold!

Despite this, the deal never closed. This financial services company had a lot of money, and the CIO had a huge budget. Saving $500K+ from this project would be nice, but was not essential. While the impact was there, the urgency was lacking.

I later learned that this person was pushing forward an initiative of his own that was highly visible. The new system I proposed could have become a distraction, and he did not need that reputational risk. Had I made this determination sooner, I could have easily repositioned the offering to better align with and support his agenda.

For example, the focus of the system could have shifted from financial savings to project and risk management for his higher priority initiative. The KPIs could be on earned value, scheduling, and deliverables.  This probably would have sold, as it would have been far more appealing to this CIO and supported what was important to him (i.e., his prize if he wins).  The additional financial savings initially identified would be the icing on the cake, to be reinvested later.

Several lessons emerged from this effort. In this instance, I focused on my personal pot of gold (based on logic and common sense) rather than on my customer’s priorities and prize for winning. That mistake cost me this deal, but it is one I have not made since – helping me win many other deals.