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Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

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Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#21

Post by Spooky23 »

lmorris84 wrote: post #3

rather than giving Cindy the quote which she asked for, I should have asked Cindy to hop on a quick call with me to discuss how they were planning to use Appointment Reminder I get this all the time when looking for vendors for various things and have to say I usually do an internal eye-roll when it comes up - sometimes I just want a rough quote in an email that I can look at when I get the chance. Most recently we w…

On the other hand, when the sales dude sends that quote that you wanted blind without any due dilligence, and you order the wrong crap, what happens?

"Boss, these idiots from don't even know what their product does!"

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#22

Post by sillysaurus3 »

lmorris84 wrote: post #7
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on your side here with regards to that, but this story is exactly why your vendor can't do that to you. You know you have no special requirements. They don't know you have no special requirements. They also don't know whether you're serious yet. For better or worse, asking you to put something on your calendar and show up to it is a great way to verify whether you're serious or not: if you're not willing to make…

In the case I mentioned I wasn't serious at all - I was just putting feelers out and trying to gauge pricing across a few different vendors. A call at this point is probably wasting my time and theirs. For me, the stage after finding out a standard price is to perhaps have a call and determine if my requirements match up to the product. I guess it also depends on the size of the company, type of software etc. If the…

It sounded like Patrick's point was that vendors who force you onto the phone are vendors who will win, if you measure "win" as "more sales that close, with a higher price."

But it depends on the business and the product, of course.

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#23

Post by dublinclontarf »

aragot wrote: post #19
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on your side here with regards to that, but this story is exactly why your vendor can't do that to you. You know you have no special requirements. They don't know you have no special requirements. They also don't know whether you're serious yet. For better or worse, asking you to put something on your calendar and show up to it is a great way to verify whether you're serious or not: if you're not willing to make…

The eternal high-touch vs low-touch debate... Atlassian's whole sales system is to display the prices upfront and have no rebate. Last time I checked, their competitors (resp. IBM Rational and Microsoft Sharepoint) didn't grow by 35% every year for 10 years in a row. I needed an office for 2 people. With Regus you need to plan a call. I ended up at a coworking space, mildly satisfied with the noise, with a bill 70% h…

I think it depends on the target customer/client. I as a technical person hate when things are not up front like pricing etc.

But then most people are not me, and there must be a reason why businesses continue to do this (better results I would guess).

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#24

Post by danielvinson »

lmorris84 wrote: post #7
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on your side here with regards to that, but this story is exactly why your vendor can't do that to you. You know you have no special requirements. They don't know you have no special requirements. They also don't know whether you're serious yet. For better or worse, asking you to put something on your calendar and show up to it is a great way to verify whether you're serious or not: if you're not willing to make…

In the case I mentioned I wasn't serious at all - I was just putting feelers out and trying to gauge pricing across a few different vendors. A call at this point is probably wasting my time and theirs. For me, the stage after finding out a standard price is to perhaps have a call and determine if my requirements match up to the product. I guess it also depends on the size of the company, type of software etc. If the…

"A call at this point is probably wasting my time and theirs."

Most salespeople spend countless hours of time with potential customers who don't purchase - it is certainly worth their time if there is even a slight chance that you will consider the product in the distant future. You are definitely NOT wasting their time.

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#27

Post by douche »

danielvinson wrote: post #24
lmorris84 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the case I mentioned I wasn't serious at all - I was just putting feelers out and trying to gauge pricing across a few different vendors. A call at this point is probably wasting my time and theirs. For me, the stage after finding out a standard price is to perhaps have a call and determine if my requirements match up to the product. I guess it also depends on the size of the company, type of software etc. If the…

"A call at this point is probably wasting my time and theirs." Most salespeople spend countless hours of time with potential customers who don't purchase - it is certainly worth their time if there is even a slight chance that you will consider the product in the distant future. You are definitely NOT wasting their time.

It's certainly wasting your time... It drives me nuts when I download a trial version of some software tool to evaluate and get phone calls from sales reps before the day is over. Calm down, I haven't had time to even try it yet...

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#28

Post by mikey_p »

JamesBarney wrote: post #26

The article mentioned "and S-1 filings of SaaS companies trying to IPO are, to many people, hilarious for this reason". Being outside of start up circles I was curious why this was hilarious.

Some recent S-1 filings have included numbers that show the company spending as much as two and half times their annual revenue on sales and marketing alone.

Some argue that this may demonstrates and unsustainable business model, while others would say it's just an early stage startup and that it'll correct itself.

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#29

Post by spdustin »

aragot wrote: post #19
patio11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm on your side here with regards to that, but this story is exactly why your vendor can't do that to you. You know you have no special requirements. They don't know you have no special requirements. They also don't know whether you're serious yet. For better or worse, asking you to put something on your calendar and show up to it is a great way to verify whether you're serious or not: if you're not willing to make…

The eternal high-touch vs low-touch debate... Atlassian's whole sales system is to display the prices upfront and have no rebate. Last time I checked, their competitors (resp. IBM Rational and Microsoft Sharepoint) didn't grow by 35% every year for 10 years in a row. I needed an office for 2 people. With Regus you need to plan a call. I ended up at a coworking space, mildly satisfied with the noise, with a bill 70% h…

And nearly every "high touch" interaction with Microsoft and an enterprise using Confluence ends up converting to SharePoint.

Full disclosure: I make my living on SharePoint, and (perhaps ironically in some reader's view) use Confluence and other Atlassian products to manage my business.

Re: Systematizing Sales with Software and Processes

#30

Post by pbiggar »

lmorris84 wrote: post #3

rather than giving Cindy the quote which she asked for, I should have asked Cindy to hop on a quick call with me to discuss how they were planning to use Appointment Reminder I get this all the time when looking for vendors for various things and have to say I usually do an internal eye-roll when it comes up - sometimes I just want a rough quote in an email that I can look at when I get the chance. Most recently we w…

If the vendor doesnt have pricing on the website, they dont sell to people like you. They only sell to people with big money to spend, and you should buy from someone else.

If you are buying from someone like AR who _does_ have pricing on the website (https://www.appointmentreminder.org/pricing), then you must have a special requirement, and as such you should have the call or you're wasting his time and yours.

Generally when people tell you "it depends on what you need" they really do mean it depends on what you need. If you're going to run AR in a hospital for 1000 emergency surgeons, vs your run a 3 person beauty salon. If you're the former, patio11 sending you an email saying "it'll be $x/mo" is meaningless.

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