I have watched consultants burn a full weekend on a proposal that was never going to win. The decision had already been made. They were invited so someone in procurement could put three names on a spreadsheet.
That is column fodder: you are not a contender, you are a compliance requirement. A proposal you write in that role does not improve your odds. It only costs you the days you spent writing it.
The pattern is familiar. An invite lands. Big brand, decent budget. You cancel the weekend. You answer every question. You submit on time. Then silence. A week later a generic email says they chose the incumbent who has been inside the account for five years.
Procurement often has a hard rule: three competitive quotes before a contract can be signed. If they already know who they want, they still need two other people to submit something so the process looks fair and the preferred supplier’s price gets a bit of pressure. If you cannot spot when you are that third name, you will waste hundreds of billable hours writing fiction for people who never intended to hire you.
The good news is you can usually tell within the first five minutes. Instead of a fifty-page proposal, you send a polite no and spend that time with a client who actually wants you.
1. A Late Invite With an Impossible Deadline
“We need this proposal by Friday.” It is currently Wednesday.
If you are invited weeks after the process started, with a deadline that leaves no room for real thinking, you are almost certainly padding the shortlist. Serious strategy work takes months to plan. The preferred supplier has usually been talking to the client for a long time. They often helped shape the brief. They already know the politics, the budget range, and which answers will score well.
What has happened is simpler than it looks. The client realised late that they need two more quotes for compliance. This is similar to when clients are talking to competitors behind your back. You are being used for comparison, not consideration. They are panicking. They are searching for “consultants in London” and emailing the first names that come up. They do not want your thinking. They want your PDF so they can tick a box.
Action Step: When a rush request comes in, ask:
“When did this project start internally?” If they say “Three months ago,” decline the bid. Say:
“Given the timeline, I don’t think I can provide the strategic depth you deserve by Friday. I’ll sit this one out.”
2. All Questions Must Go Through the Procurement Portal
You ask to speak to the real decision-maker or the budget holder to clarify the brief. They say:
“No, all questions must go through the procurement portal to ensure fairness.”
In consulting, “fairness” is often code for “we do not want you to influence the decision because we have already made it.” The preferred supplier is having coffee with the CEO while you type answers into a form. If you cannot prove your premium price is justified, you will lose on cost alone. Complex consulting is sold on trust, rapport, and chemistry. It is never sold on a spreadsheet. If you cannot access the human, you cannot win the opportunity.
I will concede the weak point: some large organisations really do run clean, locked-down processes, and a few of those still award work to outsiders. They are the exception. If the portal is the only channel and the scorecard is pure price, treat that as a signal, not an insult.
Action Step: Refuse to bid blindly. Reply:
“To give you an accurate price, I need a 15-minute calibration call with the stakeholder. I can’t scope this responsibly without it.” If they refuse, walk away.
3. The Brief Is Only About Price, Never About Strategy
The brief asks fifty questions about your day rate, your expenses policy, and your insurance. It asks nothing about your approach or your case studies. No space for how you would frame the problem. No interest in whether you have done this before for a business like theirs.
If the conversation is entirely about cost, they have already decided on the solution. They just want to buy a unit of labour. They may be using your low price to beat down the preferred supplier, or your high price to make that supplier look like good value. Either way, you are a pawn in someone else’s negotiation. Your thinking is not the product being bought. Your number is.
Action Step:
Check the weighting of the scorecard (if provided). If price is more than 50 per cent of the decision criteria, do not bid unless you are the cheapest option in the market.
4. You Are Guessing Why This Project Exists
You read the RFP and you have no idea why they are doing this project now. You do not know the internal politics. You do not know the history of the failed projects before this one. You cannot name who sponsors it, who will quietly block it, or what happened the last time they tried something similar.
If you are guessing the context, you have already lost. The preferred supplier knows why the last project failed, often because someone on the inside told them over a drink. They write a proposal that speaks to the hidden agenda. You write one that speaks to the public brief. That gap is usually fatal, no matter how polished the document looks.
Action Step:
Search your LinkedIn network. Do you know anyone at the company? Even a distant connection? Call them. Ask:
“What is the real story behind this RFP?” If you can’t get inside intel, don’t bid.
How Nynch Helps You With This
Your time is your inventory. Writing a losing proposal burns inventory for zero return.
Nynch helps you see the odds before you commit the weekend.
The relationship map: Opportunity Miner tracks your interactions so you can see whether you actually know the key people. If you have zero history with the decision unit, the opportunity is flagged as low probability.
The stakeholder check: Map who you are talking to. Multi-threaded means conversations with several people. Single-threaded means you only know a gatekeeper. Gatekeeper-only deals rarely convert on pure merit.
The bid or no-bid score: Incoming opportunities can be scored against how similar profiles have gone for you in the past. If the score is low, the rational move is often to decline and protect the weekend.
Stop playing games you cannot win. Pick the battles where you are a real contender.
Read next
- The intent radar, exactly who to call today, read buying signals so your pipeline runs on intent, not guesswork.
- 3 Ways To Clone Your Best Client And Find Clients Who Pay Full Price, Stop wasting time on bad-fit contacts.
- The client command centre, the dashboard consultants actually open every morning to spot risk and expansion early.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I know if a procurement process is rigged against me?
Four signals indicate you are column fodder: you were invited late with an impossible deadline, you cannot access the real decision-maker, the brief focuses entirely on price rather than expertise, and you have no inside knowledge of why the project is happening now. Any two of these together is a strong reason to decline the bid.
When should a consultant decline an RFP?
Decline when the cost of writing the proposal exceeds the realistic probability of winning multiplied by the expected fee. If the incumbent has been there for years, the deadline is unreasonable, and you have no relationship with anyone at the company, the expected return on your proposal effort is negative.
How do I become the preferred choice rather than a comparison quote?
Become the preferred choice before the RFP is issued. Build relationships with decision-makers in your target accounts so that when they do go to market, you have already influenced the brief, understand the internal politics, and are seen as the natural incumbent rather than a new entrant.
What does ‘column fodder’ mean in consulting procurement?
Column fodder refers to consultants invited to bid on a project not because they are genuinely considered, but because procurement rules require a minimum number of competing quotes. The preferred supplier has already been informally selected, and the other bids exist to satisfy compliance rather than to genuinely evaluate alternatives.
