PSA: Saw a prospect's organic social posts tank their RFP bid

I was sitting in on a B2B software RFP review at a prospect's office in Cleveland last month. After they dismissed our competitor's pitch, I glanced at the competitor's LinkedIn page on my phone. Their latest posts were just memes about office coffee and complaints about Mondays. Nothing about industry trends or client wins. The prospect's procurement lead pointed out that their social feed showed zero thought leadership. It cost them the deal before the tech demo even started. It made me realize how closely buyers now check a vendor's public content before committing. Has anyone else lost a deal because of something unrelated to your actual product offering?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthewgonzalez4d ago

Zero thought leadership" might be a bit harsh though. If their posts were just memes and Monday complaints, that's one thing, but sharing casual content can still show personality and build trust with buyers. I think the real issue was the timing and setup of that content, not the lack of deep industry insights. A sales process shouldn't hinge on social media unless the vendor was actively trying to use it as a lead gen tool.

mark_smith594d ago

Three memes don't equal a personality. Period.