Solution Explorers Blog

Software Technology – Buying & Selling

Series 1, Part 1 of 3 – The Problem

Do you get warm, tingly sensations when you’re about to reach out to a salesperson? Yea, well neither do I…and I spent over 10 years as a salesperson!!

Software Technology buying and selling is often – some would argue always – a tense and challenging dialogue between the two parties. Who is responsible? Not a person. Not even an industry. Instead…a process; a dysfunctional one too!

Just how entrenched is this costly issue? Unfortunately, years of poor selling methods – including selling products that aren’t quite ready for deployment or “pushing” a product that isn’t a good fit although it appears to meet most or some of the stated criteria – has been practiced for so long that trust is in all fairness a crimpling result. In fact, the issue is so troubling that buyers have counter-responded with their own process. Often, the process takes on the form of – initiate contact, ask for product information, ask for price (or at least a quote) early on, and when asked questions in return then only respond with what you want the seller to know…just enough to remain engaged. In fact, you might even tell a wee little white lie. Nah, buyers wouldn’t do that! Finally, disappear until you want to be found again. This could go on for months, even years.

Note: much of the feelings and behaviors described above are subconscious. For instance, think of something in your life that is habitual. Got it? Now, how often do you act in this way without true awareness? That’s right…almost always. The comments shared here are not designed to disparage an individual or even a profession. Instead, what is being described is so habitual that most buyers and sellers intuitively exercise these behaviors. Therefore, change is vital. The process MUST be interrupted.

Let the “rat race” begin! Honestly, all sarcasm aside, this really isn’t fun for either party involved. Some other things that this process is NOT include:

• Professional
• Efficient
• Rewarding
• FREE…it’s very costly for both parties.

I would be discouraged writing this if I didn’t believe firmly that change is possible. Therefore, we’ll explore in our next post – Part II of this series – some symptoms of these behaviors and then – in Part III – we’ll look at what my company, Solution Explorers, plans to do as a proactive initiator of change. In the meantime, I welcome your comments.