Field note · September 2026

By the Time They Search, the Shortlist Is Already Written

Ask a company how it found its last important vendor and you will rarely hear about a search. You will hear a name. Someone they trusted mentioned someone, and that was most of the decision.

The formal process, the request for proposal, the comparison sheet, the three demos, usually comes afterward. It exists to justify a choice that was already leaning one way, and to give procurement something to file. By the time it starts, the shortlist has mostly been written.

The search is where the decision gets documented, not where it gets made.

This is hard on good providers. They can be the best in their field and still lose, because they entered the conversation at the stage where it was already settled.

The fix is not louder marketing. It is arriving earlier, through someone the buyer already listens to. A short, specific introduction from a trusted person carries more weight than cold outreach, because it changes where the provider sits in the buyer’s mind before the shortlist is made.

— Kofi-Friedrich Agyeman routes B2B companies to the growth partners they need.