Parker Mills - Stop Chasing RFPs: The Smarter Way to Win in Public Sector Sales

This episode of The Inquisitor Podcast features Parker Mills, Account Executive at ServiceNow and author of State and Local Government Sales: Beyond the Bid. Parker exposes the systemic dysfunction created when short-term sales culture sabotages long-term public value.

With 11 years in U.S. state and local government (SLG) sales, he dissects the brutal misalignment where enterprise is the tail that wags the dog, corporate GTM strategy, incentives, and collateral all built for the wrong customer profile.

For founders and C-suites, Parker calls out the dangerous internal pressure that fuels “optimism theatre” and quietly corrodes integrity and trust. His challenge: treat forecast accuracy as a measure of integrity, not compliance. Give your sellers the freedom to protect relationships from the distortions of quarterly panic.

Why? Because government sales aren’t built for sprints. The average deal runs 18 months, often tied to state fiscal calendars or biennial budgets. The only winning strategy is one built on patience, preparation, and principle.

For sellers in the field, we unpack how to move Beyond the Bid, from chasing RFPs to driving pre-RFP collaboration 2–3 years before the funding ask. Parker reveals the practical shifts that separate average from elite:

• Stop prescribing and start co-developing

• Learn the policy backdrop, especially around AI (many states still ban GenAI)

• Read public strategic plans like they’re account plans

• Map the second and third rooms to stop corridor kills before they happen

And the biggest mindset shift of all: stop focusing on winning the bid.  Focus on deserving the renewal. Integrity is not a slogan, it’s a skill.

If you’re ready to dismantle a commercial-centric GTM and align your quotas to public sector reality, this conversation will challenge your thinking. Parker shares a blueprint for turning forecast accuracy into integrity, handling ghosting with composure, and learning why slowing down is the fastest way to sustainable growth.

Tune in to discover how integrity-led sellers shape the deal years before the RFP, and why that’s exactly what the public sector deserves.

 

Contact Parker: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamills/

Email parkermills@stateandlocalsales.com

Parker's book 'State and Local Government Sales: Beyond the Bid': https://amzn.to/445uJCz