Where We Push Back

When to redirect rather than build — decision-heavy, low frequency, broken process

Version 1 · June 29, 2026 salesmethodology

Content

# Where We Push Back

_Parent: Sales Methodology_

Three workflow types where we redirect the prospect instead of building.

## Decision-heavy

**Symptoms:** pricing tradeoffs, subcontractor selection, scope calls. The work is judgment, not pattern.

**What we say:** "The judgment stays with your team. But we automate the data, prep, and routing so the call lands in your hand with everything it needs."

**Example:** Bid selection for a $2M job. We don't pick the sub — but we can pull every sub's past bids, current capacity, change-order history, and put it in front of the decision-maker in one screen. The decision is theirs. The hours of prep are gone.

## Low frequency

**Symptoms:** the workflow happens 1–2 times a month.

**What we say:** "On its own, that pays back too slowly to be worth a standalone build. But if it's part of a bigger workflow we're already building, it costs almost nothing to bolt on."

**Example:** Annual insurance renewal. As a standalone $25K build? No — payback is years. As a bolted-on feature inside their AP/AR automation? An extra 2-3 hours of dev work, no extra cost.

## Process is broken

**Symptoms:** the workflow has fundamental issues — wrong steps, missing approvals, duplicate effort baked in.

**What we say:** "Automating a broken workflow just makes the wrong outcome faster. We can help — process design is part of the work. We'll find the most efficient version before we build."

**Example:** They route every PO through three approvers including someone who hasn't had decision authority for years. We don't build the 3-approver routing. We redesign with them to a 2-approver flow, then build that.

## Why pushing back wins the deal

Saying no to bad-fit work is the highest-trust move we can make on a first call. It signals:
- We're not desperate
- We know the difference between automation and judgment
- We'll save them from spending $25K on the wrong thing

Most vendors would build whatever the prospect asks for. We'd rather lose a bad deal and earn the next three.

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_Last updated: 2026-05-24_

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