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All bad sales people overpromise. A real solution would not be shopping a list of 'could have' 'should have' 'currently have' 'will not have' to the partner com

All bad sales people overpromise. A real solution would not be shopping a list of 'could have' 'should have' 'currently have' 'will not have' to the partner company as 'already implemented and will have' so that the requirements are realistic on both sides.

gscott 18y ago
Customers have custom needs. You have to give the customers what they need and if you don't have it then you have to build it. That means promising things and hiring people to create those things you promised. You can't tell the customer "take what we have or nothing" and you can't tell the customer "come back in a year". Sure there is some stress in getting the programming done and tested and yes there are bumps along the way, but so far the "take it or leave it" approach has not been working out and it seems like someone at least is trying something new... its the "pay us and we will build it" approach.
- edw519 18y ago
  I agree completely, gscott. You do whatever you gotta do to get the sale. That's no excuse, however, for sales people to operate in a vacuum. It's better for everyone if the entire team understands the plan. And it'll be a lot easier for angstrom to become "Super Angstrom" if he has a clue about what's going on instead of being nailed with an unreasonable demand at the last minute. If you want anyone to do anything "above and beyond the call of duty", doesn't it naturally follow that you should do everything you can to help them do it?
  - angstrom 18y ago
    Agreed. The problem with over promising is that in every case that I've seen it done (I've seen this 3 times in my short 4.5 year career) the promises were made without analyzing if the agreement fits what's needed not what's wanted. And in every case the cost to satisfy a customer that has been deceived was higher than the profit from the sale that was made.
    - deleted 18y ago
      [deleted]
    - gscott 18y ago
      That is funny because that is what I do, I fill the gap between what is needed and wanted. I believe it would be uncommon for the customer to spec out everything down to what each screen looks like and the logic behind each page and it would be uncommon for the saleperson to do that too. Someone has to be the "interpreter" between the customer vision and the salespersons vision (both of which are valuable) and come up with a working prototype or at least page by page html screens. I guess that begs the question who in your company is the interpreter. Sounds like you would be a good fit for that position. An approach would be "Hi my name is x in x position, great job on the sale with x company. I would like to help define the x features that will be released upon launch and a timeline for the customer to launch as quickly as possible and help define launch dates for the remaining features".

gscott 18y ago

Customers have custom needs. You have to give the customers what they need and if you don't have it then you have to build it. That means promising things and hiring people to create those things you promised. You can't tell the customer "take what we have or nothing" and you can't tell the customer "come back in a year". Sure there is some stress in getting the programming done and tested and yes there are bumps along the way, but so far the "take it or leave it" approach has not been working out and it seems like someone at least is trying something new... its the "pay us and we will build it" approach.

edw519 18y ago
I agree completely, gscott. You do whatever you gotta do to get the sale. That's no excuse, however, for sales people to operate in a vacuum. It's better for everyone if the entire team understands the plan. And it'll be a lot easier for angstrom to become "Super Angstrom" if he has a clue about what's going on instead of being nailed with an unreasonable demand at the last minute. If you want anyone to do anything "above and beyond the call of duty", doesn't it naturally follow that you should do everything you can to help them do it?
- angstrom 18y ago
  Agreed. The problem with over promising is that in every case that I've seen it done (I've seen this 3 times in my short 4.5 year career) the promises were made without analyzing if the agreement fits what's needed not what's wanted. And in every case the cost to satisfy a customer that has been deceived was higher than the profit from the sale that was made.
  - deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
  - gscott 18y ago
    That is funny because that is what I do, I fill the gap between what is needed and wanted. I believe it would be uncommon for the customer to spec out everything down to what each screen looks like and the logic behind each page and it would be uncommon for the saleperson to do that too. Someone has to be the "interpreter" between the customer vision and the salespersons vision (both of which are valuable) and come up with a working prototype or at least page by page html screens. I guess that begs the question who in your company is the interpreter. Sounds like you would be a good fit for that position. An approach would be "Hi my name is x in x position, great job on the sale with x company. I would like to help define the x features that will be released upon launch and a timeline for the customer to launch as quickly as possible and help define launch dates for the remaining features".