The Absolute Worst Question to Ask an Enterprise Software Sales Person

Media_httpfarm3static_yiiww
This is a response to Mukund's post the other night which was a response to the 'It Depends' post. The absolute worst question that you can ask an enterprise software sales person (or any sales person) is 'How much does your product cost?' There are two types of buyers: those who want stuff and those who need stuff. Generally speaking, those who want stuff tend to be more interested in knowing how much stuff costs during the first 10 minutes of a conversation and the classic adage holds true. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Those who need stuff recognize that they have a problem. Then it becomes an issue of how big of a problem it is for them, not how much something costs. If I have a leak in my roof and there is rain in the forecast, I'm not going to spend a bunch of time shopping around for the lowest cost roof repair shop. I'm going to pay a premium to get someone to come out and fix it for me the same day. I may not necessarily buy a new roof, but I'm going to do some business quickly. If I don't have a leak and I'm just tired of my black shingles and want gray, then I'll ask how much. To quote my boss, enterprise software isn't HBO & Stars on DirecTV. Making a major decision about your corporate infrastructure shouldn't come down to price. Are you really going to bet the company on the lowest priced vendor? That is like going to the lowest cost surgeon or picking a religion because church starts at a time that doesn't interfere with football. If someone asks me how much our stuff costs during the first meeting, it becomes clear that they are looking for the Doc in a Box or cheap salvation and not to solve any serious business issue. According to Michael Shermer's book, Mind of the Market, people will generally pay about 25% of their pain (or gain) for a service to get it fixed. If getting my roof fixed costs $10,000, that is a small price to pay, especially with rain coming, if the alternative is ruining the stuff in my attic, leaking into the ceiling, then into the floors, plus mold will build up as rain leaks down into my walls. The potential cost of my ignored leaky roof could be well into the $100K range. $10K is trivial to my potential pain. Your IT issues are the same story. If your company has a $1 million problem (or likewise, sees a $1M advantage), then you will probably spend $250,000 - $500,000 for resolution. If you have a $1M problem, you don't ask how much it is going to cost to get it fixed. If you have a $1M problem, your job is on the line and spending $250,000 to get it fixed looks really appealing. If you don't know what the problem is, or how big it is, or how it impacts your company, but you are interested in shiny new things coming out from cool companies, that is when you ask 'How much'. Big problems aren't solved with a CD out of the box and a Next, Next, Next, Finish install. They are solved when organizations partner with another organization that can fill in the blanks to deliver the fix. Big problems tend to be expensive to solve and generally take a bit of time to scope. A $1 million problem may cost $10,000 to fix and it may cost $1 million to fix. Unfortunately, understanding this delta requires a little bit of digging and a lot of guidance from the customer. Sales people aren't trying to be elusive when they respond 'It Depends', it really does depend on a lot of factors. A good sales rep would be doing you a disservice by responding with anything else.
Tagged Marketing & Management enterprise software sales it michael shermer mukund mohan pricing sales
Tags
​