Bach Seat

Jonathan Feldman penned an article for InformationWeek which provided some tips on how to deal with vendor sales people. The Ashville NC, CIO writes that most IT pros think doing calls and meetings with vendors are a waste of time. However, he states that IT vendor salespeople have a place in the IT ecosystem. The author argues salespeople can be a benefit;

… if you stick your head in the sand, don’t be surprised when you fail to move forward … We all know the bad side of sales. But the good side, at the correct time and in the correct dosage, can usher in business technology innovation.

The article explains it’s all about sound vendor management. Mr. Feldman describes four things he does to ensure that time with the vendor is as productive as possible for him.

Establish guidelines for sales people

There should be a process for vendor meetings. Mr. Feldman says that staff should know what to do when faced with a vendor on the phone, or worse yet (which I’ve seen) at the front desk.

1. Should they take the call immediately?
2. Pass it to someone else? If so, to whom?
3. If it’s decided not to engage the vendor at all, based on what criteria?

Any way you slice it, staff need guidance so that they don’t go overboard one way or another.

Set expectations

Provide vendors a mechanism for contacting you. CIO Feldman suggests the website should clearly state where product and service calls should go. He also suggests that voice mail announcements spell out a number that vendors should call if they want assistance.

This is an early test of vendors if they can follow your directions. If they can’t properly get in touch at the beginning, how are they going to behave at crunch time? rb- I use the same logic at RFP time, vendors certainly raise a flag if they don’t read the directions and respond in the requested format.

Direct the call

It is your time, do you want to spend it on a cold call? I have found that cold calls are rarely useful. Mr. Feldman suggests you limit cold calls to five minutes, tops. He makes the vendor get right to the elevator pitch to quickly check whether to hear more at another time. To cut through the chaff, he recommends a question like, “What’s the value in what you’re selling, in 30 seconds or less?” Hang up on people who say they’re not selling anything.

Control timing

If the salesperson has followed the process and made an appointment and showed up (rb- a problem for first time calls or small accounts) keep the meeting short. The author says these early meetings should be less than 30 minutes to hear and evaluate their message. These calls are to evaluate the elevator pitch, not to discuss strategy. Control the timing; don’t let it control you.

Mr. Feldman concludes that ignoring sales calls isn’t an option unless you want to join the legions of the uninformed. He recommends that IT Pros sift through the sales noise to decide which pitches merit action to benefit your business.

rb-

I have managed the vendor pitch process by having quarterly pitch Fridays where new vendors could get 30 minutes to pitch their business. This allowed us to schedule the meetings around our customer’s work. And it made it easy for the admin staff to schedule, here is your time like or lump it. And it pushed the meeting out enough to test sales commitment.

Related articles

• Rude salespeople may be more effective, study says (wwlp.com)

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.