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The cold hard truth of the world is that things are not evaluated solely meritoriously by everyone. Oracle know this, in fact, they rely on it. If they are tr

The cold hard truth of the world is that things are not evaluated solely meritoriously by everyone. Oracle know this, in fact, they rely on it. If they are trying to win a big corporate contract you know a good way to get it? : The dude who has an enormous amount of say is head of I.T. at EnormousBeanFactory, the world’s largest supplier of canned beans. Is it a sexy industry? Nope, but they do 3 billion a year in beans. This dude is in his mid 50s, bald, out of shape, big glasses, and is likely very single. He has a comfortable wage but he’s not rich. He hasn’t gotten laid in 20 years. Send in the energetic and charismatic Oracle salesman, instantly invite this guy for all expenses trip to Aspen to discuss the deal, but don’t make it obvious, a few 5 star lunches locally first. When in Aspen make sure this guy has the time of his life, got it? Here’s 20k expense account, this guy is going to have a weekend he is not going to forget. Do I need to spell out the details for you? Once he’s back at his job and had a few days to recover then land the fish while the memories are still fresh, as long as your product MINIMALLY functions, they’ll sign. Of course I personally think this is atrocious way of doing business, but I am wise enough to not let my rosy ideals prevent me from seeing the reality of the world, so there it is. That’s why “people continue to use ORACLE” products.

dijit 2y ago
People will think that this is ridiculous, but I can tell you from experience that this is exactly what happens. You are often relying on the altruism of the C-levels to care about people more than the “vibes” that sales people can give off, which just happens to be helped by expensive lunches, trips, invitations to shows with VIP seats, and being welcomed with beaming smiles and open arms like a celebrity at their HQ. Obviously its not just Oracle that does this, all the large companies do it- even the ones you think have crappy support like Google. These are hard things to turn down, and if you think you can you’re probably wrong.

dijit 2y ago

People will think that this is ridiculous, but I can tell you from experience that this is exactly what happens. You are often relying on the altruism of the C-levels to care about people more than the “vibes” that sales people can give off, which just happens to be helped by expensive lunches, trips, invitations to shows with VIP seats, and being welcomed with beaming smiles and open arms like a celebrity at their HQ. Obviously its not just Oracle that does this, all the large companies do it- even the ones you think have crappy support like Google. These are hard things to turn down, and if you think you can you’re probably wrong.