In the UK, the spec sheet does a lot of the selling. Score highest against the requirements matrix, come in compliant on price, and you’re usually in the conversation.
I assumed that travelled. It doesn’t.
Here, the spec sheet gets you in the door. It doesn’t get you the deal. What does: can they trust you, and can you show them the thing actually working. Proof over promise. The relationship isn’t the soft layer on top of the commercial case — quite often it is the commercial case.
The cycle is longer for it, and early meetings can feel like they’re going nowhere if you’re measuring them against a Western pipeline stage. They’re not. They’re doing the work the procurement matrix does elsewhere — in the room, in person, over more time than a quarterly forecast wants to allow.
The mistake I see people make — and made myself early on — is bringing the UK playbook and wondering why the spec sheet isn’t closing. It was never going to.