What I Learned: Beware the Rogue Software Salesperson

What I learned this week … came from
from a conversation with an industry company that unfortunately I
can’t name because of the circumstances. It is just another
reminder to me that manufacturers have to educate
themselves on what problems they are trying to solve and which
software solutions can address them before entertaining
serious conversations with sales people.

The Scenario
To keep it simple (and generic
to protect the innocent and the less-than-innocent) we’ll keep it
short.

• Industry company has a problem
• Software vendor has a solution designed to
  solve other problems (and solves them well)
• Software could solve the company’s problem, but it was
  not designed for this
  problem and is not a good
  fit (resulting in excess cost, modification,
  implementation time, aggravation, etc.)
• Software sales person pushes their solution
  anyway (after all, they will want to solve the problems
  the software does solve eventually)

Unfortunately this helps to perpetuate the myth found in this
joke:

• Question: “How can you tell if a sales person
  is lying?”
• Reply: “Their lips are moving.”

It doesn’t need to be this way, and disrespects the
majority of sales people with good intentions for their
customers.

Who’s Problem is This?

Software Vendor - As much as we might all want
to blame the vendor, this is usually not their fault. Vendors train
their sales people what the solutions are capable of and where they
fit. While the vendor might get some short term revenue, they also
inherit an unhappy customer and a negative reference. Ultimately,
it will not be good for the vendor despite short-term license fees.
Unfortunately, the sales person has already received, cashed, and
spent the commission check.

The Salesperson - I have a lot of friends that
sell enterprise software, including PLM. Many of them have sold
solutions to companies multiple times because they have the best
interest of the customer in mind. Some times they sold a solution
(for example ERP) while they were with one vendor, and then came
back and sold a different solution (like SCM or PLM) when they
worked for a different vendor. Why? Trust. Good
sales people sell long-term value, and really care about
what they are selling. Most of the long-term successes I know in
sales fall into this category. And those sales people are the ones
that will spend the most time educating their prospects.

Your Company - Companies need to get the most
out of their enterprise software, and can’t afford the expense of a
failed implementation. The failure results in lost money, lost
time, and the impact people on the implementation team (who
get really frustrated trying to make it work). And, the
problem they were trying to solve has continued to be a problem for
longer (or gotten worse).

Yours - Clearly, this is important to the
individuals involved. Companies put high potential candidates in
charge of projects like PLM, and a bad decision can hurt career
opportunities.

Our Industry (PLM, Enterprise IT) - This
hurts all of us. It makes it harder for vendors and industry
companies to trust each other, and develop long-term relationships.
Overall, hopefully the vendor will be able to repair relationships
that start off poorly, but this is often not the case.

So that is what I learned this week, I hope you found it
interesting. I hope I haven’t ticked too many people off with this
one, I believe it’s a few rotten apples that spoil the
barrel. It’s disappointing, and it hurts everyone. Let us
know what you think about it, and let us all know if you have any
more suggestions. Even better, let me know if you have had a
positive experience with your enterprise sales person. I will
follow up with a post on what we can all do about it from our
individual roles in the industry.