to be a 2x4 or not to be a 2x4 that is the question

what if you discovered that your efforts in trying to win business were in fact being used to lever some other group down, and the groups speaking to you were simply there to use you as a lever. Or a 2x4 (two by four: basically a large block of wood used for support in framing, or used for, in a proverbial sense, beating people and companies up ). Since you are not going to win, no matter what you do, should you even expend the effort?

I find myself in this position today with a deal we have been working on. If we aren’t going to win, no matter what, I fail to see how or why we should even try. I think it falls to the case of figuring out where our upside is. I can’t see any. Our downside is loss of precious time and resources. Some deals are best walked away from. This is one of them.