7. Is the prospect the final decision-maker?

Here’s a lousy situation. You work hard to build a relationship with client contact. They’ve implied several times that it’s their project and they’re the decision-maker. You’ve become an important resource and demonstrated your value. Everything appears to be moving in the right direction. When the time is right, you submit a proposal, but while meeting with the contact, they tell you they’ll need to run your proposal by their boss, committee, or others.

It’s human nature to want to appear to have more authority than one really has.