The Better Firm Rarely Wins the First Call

A company in the middle of a change doesn’t have time to run a search for its specialist. It has a week, maybe less, and a stack of decisions no one else can make for it. Comparing six firms properly is a luxury it can’t afford.

So it does what anyone does under a deadline. It asks someone it already trusts who they would call. The first name it hears, from a source it believes, gets the first meeting.

Under pressure, buyers don’t pick the best firm. They pick the best firm they can trust quickly.

This is unfair to the firms that are better and quieter. A specialist can have the sharper team and the stronger record and still lose the first call to whoever was already in the room. Quality matters, but it matters in the second meeting.

An introduction works because it hands the buyer the one thing the deadline took away: a reason to skip the vetting. Someone with nothing to sell says this firm is right for this problem, and the buyer can move.

That is the seat I’m building. The person who reads the trigger early, knows which specialist fits, and earns the right to make the call.

— Siva Kotari routes B2B companies at a moment of change to the specialist firms who handle it.