A New Decision Maker Wants to Review Your Proposal

Understand the situation before responding

Find out why the reviewer changed and what authority the new person holds. Do not rely on speculation about internal politics. Ask your sponsor which earlier agreements remain relevant and which need revisiting. Separate the proposal facts from opinions expressed privately by another stakeholder. A new executive may reasonably challenge scope, priority or timing even when the earlier discussion was enthusiastic.

An example message to adapt

Welcome to the discussion. The proposal was developed around [confirmed problem] and [intended outcome]. Before asking you to review the full document, does that still reflect the priority, and which questions would you need answered to assess it? I can provide a short current summary with the outstanding assumptions clearly marked.

Illustrative teaching example. Replace the prompts with buyer-confirmed facts; this is not a client conversation, claimed result or message to send automatically.

Prepare a useful next action

Offer context in a concise form and invite corrections. Explain the current scope, investment and dependencies without presenting past support as pressure to approve. If the new reviewer changes the objective, confirm the implications before rewriting the offer. Keep the sponsor involved so the process remains transparent. Where previous approvals are being relied on, ask whether the buyer considers them valid under the new decision structure.

Record the decision and its limits

Update the decision map, criteria and next step. If the project needs requalification, record it that way rather than retaining an outdated near-close forecast. A constructive restart may be more useful than defending every prior assumption. If the new owner says the project is no longer needed, close professionally and capture the reason. Do not interpret a request for information as agreement to buy.