Two obvious sales tactics by vendors and how to deal with them

Two sales tactics have become more prevalent over the last year and I thought I would take a minute to post how I deal with them. I will leave all vendor names out, and refer to these organizations as "vendors" and not partners for clear reasons.


Tactic #1 - "Your special, we are only offering it to a limited number of strategic clients"

This is a knockoff of the old Beta days where companies would give you some incentive to be early adopters of new code. The incentive to us was a lower cost of entry for new software while the cost to us was swimming through issues and giving valuable feedback to vendors which took time. Many of us have learned  that while the upfront cost was lower, the pain related to issues and lack of support created more headaches and cost in the end for the majority of Beta testing.

Now it seems companies have retooled that thinking into a jargon laden sales pitch that attempts to make you feel like you are "strategic" and "forward thinking" and that other organizations are not of your caliber. Hogwash... This is the same old cigarette in a new wrapper - don't smoke it even though it looks better. You have to ask yourself why you are so special today to receive treatment like they are offering. While you may be special, they want something that you have and it is going to be costly.

Combating tactic #1:

1. Ask for reference sites and specifically ask for what measurable benefit they received from the product. References that report the system works great, that the system has no problem or has revolutionized medicine usually fall apart when you dig into the very specific details.

2. Ask for favorable payment terms and discounts. If you truly are getting the benefit of being an early adopter, there is a cost to you for this. You would have problems to work through, the vendor will require additional feedback and there probably will be some need for you to be a reference site. This costs you money. You should ask for a significant discount, but also tie specific measurable results to payment terms. This can be problematic as vendors are very sensitive about having a specific date tied to terms for proper revenue recognition, but in this case you must press hard to ensure you don't pay a vendor 100% while issues could still remain.

3. Don't feel like you are special - in most cases you are not.  However, if you do happen to be special enough to test new software that has the potential to benefit your organization, be mindful of the cost associated and "be OK with walking away".  Don't get so wrapped up in the amazing new widget that your excitement takes over and you end up doing a lot of work that costs you money.


Tactic #2 - "Let's take care of that issue in ______" a.k.a. Kick the can down the road

This is a common tactic and even though it doesn't sound like a sales tactic it is. Through various sales cycles issues are always found. Hardware was accidentally left off, payment terms are problematic, contract language is inadequate, support coverage is lacking, etc. etc. etc. This comes up more frequently after you have had a product for some time and you are continuing the partnership through additional product lines.

Let's be clear on this. The sales person vendor wants your money and they will do everything possible to get it, including pushing issues down the road to a future release, future year, or future CIO.

Combating Tactic #2

1. Do everything possible to resist pushing ANY issue to the future. It all but guarantees a future revenue stream for the vendor and creates issues in the event of financial downturn, programming commitments that sometimes are not made, and customer expectations that may not be met. Press for resolution while the negotiation is still going on, not after your negotiating position has been crammed down to the size of a pea.

2. If you absolutely must kick the issue to a future date you MUST tie some pain back to the vendor. Don't let them off the hook just by talking you into pushing an issue to a future date and then have them feel no motivation in the future. Many times when the issue does crop back up you will have a new sales team or relationship expert to deal with who has no history of your issue.

3. Document incessantly. Write down notes in meetings, keep your emails and go out of your way to get supporting documentation for any issue that is being kicked down the road that will have some financial tie to it.  Any documentation that supports your position to a new team (see #2) will help.


While these are just two of many sales tactics, these two seem to be cropping up more frequently.  I'm grateful for the partners that I deal with regularly that shy away from these.

Happy negotiating!