7 common lies told by enterprise software sales people

The lies that are used to generate saleas are; 

Lie 1. My solution is the one that best meets your needs

What I mean is that I’m going to do my darnedest to shoe horn my product into your world so that you’ll buy my stuff versus the competitors.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What 3 companies are your fiercest competitors and what would they say they do better than you? The last time you lost a deal to your competition, what were the main reasons given?

Lie 2. My solution does not require much of your company’s IT resources

What I meant was that with a 95% degree of certainty, your IT department will be the biggest roadblock to success that we’ll encounter in this project.

Key questions to ask the sales person: When (not if) you run into smoke screens, road blocks, and obstacles thrown up my IT department, are you prepared to deal with them and how? If we cut through all of the crap, how much time does it really take to deploy this solution, excluding training?

Lie 3. My solution is supported well

I meant that when you call, a human will pick up the phone and get on your problem right away, delaying someone else’s due date for customized solution delivery. The bottom line with custom software in the enterprise is that it breaks. How many times have you rebooted today?

Key questions to ask the sales person: Do you have an automated system or a human system when I call your support line? What bug tracking or trouble ticket solution to you use? What your average time from call in to resolution? What is your process for escalation?

Lie 4. My solution will save you time and money

When I said, “My solution will save you time and money,” what I meant was that your company will probably achieve enough Return On Investment to pay for the solution…but you’ll end up using 10% of what the solution can do and end up frustrated after the honeymoon period. Most enterprise solutions have evolved because complex businesses have insisted that new features be built as a condition of sale.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What percentage of features in this system do your clients typically use? If I want to reduce the training required by half to save money, will you let me?

Lie 5. That will take 2…maybe 3 weeks to develop

I mean, I really don’t know how long your customization will take so I’m throwing out a number that will get you to bite…not balk.” If the delivery dates of complex customizations seems unrealistic…even to you, they probably are.

Key questions to ask the sales person: What is your process for documenting change requests? If your development efforts fall behind schedule, what’s my compensation?

Lie 6. Here are my prices

When I said, “Here are my prices”, what I meant was “My price is totally flexible and within reason I’ll probably say yes to lowering them because we need your upfront money and recurring revenue more than I need my pride.” Pricing enterprise solutions is far more art than science. Often it’s more about discovering the target’s pain tolerance.

Key questions to ask the sales person: How much does the solution cost? What’s the typical payback or return on investment you’ve measured when companies like mine have deployed your solution and can you provide me case studies?

Lie 7. Here are my contract terms and conditions

What I mean is “This is pretty much a boiler plate agreement that no one reads so if you challenge some terms…you’ll probably get what you want.”

Key questions to ask the sales person: Is this agreement flexible and negotiable? What’s the one contract term that clients challenge the most?”

Here I have mentione some common lies and the questions that wll help you not to get trapped in these ies and make a rational decision. I hope that is of some help to you in your next purchase. Make sure to tell me how it benefitted you.