Articles
The “Form Contract” Ploy
In the form contract ploy, the vendor’s marketing representative strives to make the contract the smallest, least significant part of the acquisition transaction. In implementing
The “Solutions” Ploy
Vendor marketing representatives are highly trained to identify customer’s needs and sell “solutions.” From an objective standpoint, the customer’s “needs” may not be the most
The “Price Protection Contract” Ploy
In its most basic form, the “price protection contract” ploy works like this: the vendor’s marketing representative tells his customer, “You are a great customer
The “We Don’t Need To Write That Down, You Can Trust Me” Ploy
This ploy is built on the vendor first creating and later manipulating personal relationships between its marketing people and the customer’s staff to justify leaving
The “Low Ball” and “When I Hit Your Hot Button, I Gotcha” Ploys
The following excerpts from an ICN Negotiations Workshop illustrate how these ploys could take advantage of a customer who, unfortunately, is having to acquire a
The Challenge with Buying Technology
Technology – information or otherwise – has always been a tough subject to discuss, to explain, to comprehend, to predict, and most important, to buy. Why
Why a Checklist
There was a time in the field of medicine when it was possible to know everything that there was to know. Lewis Thomas writes in
Beyone the Handshake
Traditionally, vendors have allocated the majority of their sales training dollars toward product and solution training. Increasingly, however, there is recognition that soft-skills training in
They Know That You Know
In sales school 101, you are taught to ask if the customer has a budget. In buying school 101, you are taught to never reveal
Champagne and Scarcity
The Champagne wine region is a historic province in the northeast of France, approximately 100 miles east of Paris. As the name suggests, it is
Urgency—Guard it at All Costs
In the IT world, change is a given, but that doesn’t make it any easier. Most people in the trenches of IT have enough to
The Dip
The vendor technology community spent roughly $2B on sales training in 2011. Why? Their view is that every technology vendor has two problems: sales and