Insight: Selling to Barricaded
Buyers

Kevin S. Chase (Clemson University) and Brian Murtha (University of Kentucky) highlight a growing challenge in procurement: how to sell effectively when buyers are “barricaded.” Barricaded buyers are those who, due to strict procurement rules or organizational policies, limit or block communication with suppliers during the buying process. This situation is common in government procurement, where fairness and transparency are emphasized, but it is increasingly mirrored in private-sector practices through procurement portals and rigid communication protocols.

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For suppliers, these barricades mean that traditional sales tactics—relationship building, informal conversations, and direct clarification of needs—are off the table. Instead, suppliers must rely on indirect methods to compete. Chase and Murtha’s work shows that success in these contexts depends on mastering signaling strategies: deliberate actions that communicate credibility, capability, and value even when direct dialogue is restricted.

 

Understanding Barricaded Buying

Most U.S. states, the federal government, and many foreign governments impose strict rules that prohibit supplier contact once an RFP is released. Private-sector firms such as Walmart, Exxon, and Apple also use procurement systems that limit direct access. These barricades are designed to ensure fairness, but they also mean suppliers must rely on indirect methods to compete. Unlike traditional gatekeepers who can be influenced interpersonally, policy barricades are impersonal and rigid, making signaling strategies even more critical.

 

Three Pathways of Signaling

Chase and Murtha identify three distinct signaling pathways in barricaded contexts:

1. Signals to buyers – Suppliers communicate value through the content and delivery of their RFP responses. Positive tone, clarity, tailored answers, and creative solutions all serve as signals of competence and partnership potential.

2. Signals to competitors – Suppliers influence rivals through “peacocking,” where incumbents showcase superior knowledge or relationships to discourage competitors from bidding.

3. Signals from buyers (jammed) – Buyers attempt to signal fairness, but suppliers can sometimes “jam” these signals by embedding their own language or capabilities into RFPs, effectively shaping specifications in their favor.

 

The framework also highlights barricade restrictiveness as a contingency variable. The more restrictive the environment, the greater the impact of signaling activities on competitiveness.

 

Competitor Perception Shaping

In the pre‑RFP phase, suppliers can shape competitors’ perceptions through information peacocking and relationship peacocking. Information peacocking involves demonstrating superior knowledge of the buyer’s needs, often by incumbents who showcase their familiarity with buyer facilities or processes. Relationship peacocking involves signaling strong ties to the buyer organization, which can intimidate competitors and discourage them from submitting proposals. These tactics reduce competition and enhance the incumbent’s position.

 

RFP Shaping and Signal Jamming

Suppliers can also influence the content of RFPs before they are finalized. By embedding supplier-specific capabilities (unique features or services) or supplier-specific language (terminology distinctive to their firm), suppliers increase the likelihood that the RFP favors them. This practice can effectively lock out competitors who cannot meet the specifications. While buyers intend RFPs to signal fairness, such shaping can jam that signal, leading competitors to perceive bias and withdraw. This “signal jamming” is a novel contribution of the research, showing how suppliers can tilt the playing field even in supposedly neutral processes.

 

RFP Response Content

Once the RFP is issued, suppliers must comply with requirements but can still enhance competitiveness by offering novel solutions (creative approaches that go beyond compliance) or supplemental solutions (addressing needs not explicitly stated). These discretionary efforts signal innovation, partnership potential, and willingness to exceed expectations. Importantly, offering such solutions in the post‑RFP phase prevents competitors from countering them, since they are unaware of these additions. Buyers often interpret these efforts as signs of a supplier’s innovativeness and commitment, even if they do not adopt the proposed solutions immediately.

 

RFP Response Delivery

The way suppliers deliver their RFP responses also matters. Four qualitative characteristics emerged as influential signals:

 

• Reference matching – Providing references similar in size and scope to the buyer signals relevant experience.

• Positive tone – Responses that convey constructive attitudes signal openness to partnership, while negative or arrogant tones reduce competitiveness.

• Explicit responding – Clear, well-structured answers, visuals, and detailed descriptions enhance buyer confidence.

• Tailored responding – Customizing answers to the buyer’s context signals attentiveness and commitment.

 

These delivery factors help buyers infer relationship quality and supplier reliability, compensating for the lack of interpersonal interaction.

 

Key Take‑Aways

• Shape competitor perceptions: Use pre‑RFP meetings to demonstrate deep knowledge of the buyer’s needs (information peacocking) or highlight strong relationships (relationship peacocking) to discourage rivals.

• Influence RFP content strategically: Provide sample documents or demonstrations that embed your firm’s unique capabilities or terminology into buyer specifications, increasing the chance that requirements align with your strengths.

• Go beyond compliance: In RFP responses, propose novel or supplemental solutions. These discretionary efforts signal innovation and partnership potential.

• Deliver with care: Ensure proposals are clear, positively toned, and tailored to the buyer’s context. Matching references to the buyer’s size and scope strengthens credibility.

• Adapt to restrictiveness: Recognize that the more restrictive the barricade, the more critical signaling becomes. In highly constrained environments, embedding capabilities and language into RFPs can be decisive.

• Manage competitor motivation: Strategic signaling can reduce rivals’ willingness to invest in competing bids, indirectly improving your chances of selection.

• Remember subjective signals matter: Buyers interpret tone, clarity, and responsiveness as proxies for relationship quality. Treat the RFP as your “best behavior” showcase.