Buying CRM Like Buying a Car

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 21-Jun-2005 01:36 PM
In an email to CRMGuru.com, Bonnie Buchanan ranted about the experience she'd had auditioning solutions for her company. She complained that it was as bad as buying a car (and she didn't mean that in a good way).

She didn't like having to be prescreened before meeting up with a sales agent, only to have the agent ask her the same questions; she didn't like never being able to pin down a purchase price; and she didn't care for different sales agents bad-mouthing each other's companies.

So we had Bonnie write it up in an article, Have CRM Vendors Ever Heard of Customer-Centricity? (What I Learned When Buying CRM Software), which you can find in our knowledge base.

In response came an email from Daniel Freeman, an account executive, who lashed out at the fact that, he felt, Bonnie had given salespeople short shrift. Too often customers didn't know what they wanted, he argued. Without a thorough interview with the customer, the salesperson couldn't arrive at the best solution tailored for that customer's needs. We had Dan turn his rant into an article, too, and you'll find it, You Can't Be a Customer-Centric Vendor Without Spending Time With the Customer, in the knowledge base, too.

So where do you stand on the subject? Is there a happy medium? Are you losing customers by putting them off with too much pre-screening? Do customers need a bit more "knowledge" before they try to buy your product? (Although, that doesn't seem too customer-centric to me.)

o2tan
Member

Posted 27-Jun-2005 08:41 AM
When spending hundreds of thousands of a companies dollars and internal resources on applications designed to increase revenue, a 5 minute briefing and a price sheet might be all some people need to make a decision.

Personally, I wouldn't put my job or industry reputation on buying solutions that way, but then again, I don't walk on water.... Wink

Ignored post by o2tan posted 27-Jun-2005 08:41 AM
Bob Thompson
Founder, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 29-Jun-2005 11:57 AM
CRM buyers and sellers: Can this marriage be saved?

Our industry study over the past year revealed that many CRM vendors have considerable room for improvement, in the eyes of their customers. But some vendors are doing better than others. See Gwynne's article on the CRMGuru Summit Award winners, where we identify the best for seven different categories.

Having sold technology solutions in the past for IBM, I can empathize with CRM software sellers. It's frustrating to have buyers with unrealistic expectations, for the buying process or the solution. But it seems to me the seller has the responsibility to deal with this appropriately, by educating the buyer or, as a last resort, tactfully suggesting they look elsewhere.

We buy (or rent) a lot of technology at CRMGuru.com, and I can attest to the same frustration that Bonnie experienced. Budgets do drive decisions, so I usually appreciate some basic positioning (the "sticker" price) just to avoid wasting my time (or the vendor's) on something I can't afford. Getting this information can be quite difficult for enterprise vendors, in my experience, unless you start a formal bidding process.

And I also share Bonnie's view that repeating requirements is annoying. A few months back I spent 30 minutes on the phone with a tele-screener, and didn't mind that a bit. I learned something, so did they. What I did mind was getting referred to a direct sales rep who made me start over from the beginning. With a good CRM process, they would have shared the info I'd provided already, and the rep could have briefly summarized and continued on.

I don't see how an angry customer or prospect is ever a good thing, no matter how unrealistic they might seem to be. Any advice on how to deal with these situations?

Bob Thompson
Founder, CRMGuru.com

o2tan
Member

Posted 30-Jun-2005 11:16 AM
I contend that the customer will be more angry at committing hundreds of thousands of dollars of their constrained budgets on applications that don't meet their needs, simply because the customer didn't take to the time to learn the vendor oferings and how those offerings apply to the prospect's needs and requirements.

At the end of the day, I'd rather repeat myself a time or two than go look for a new job because I didn't take the time to learn any more about the prospective vendor than a commodity price.

Commodity pricing works for door hardware and bananas, but technology and business operations are a bit more complex than that....

Curiosityscat123
Member

Posted 11-Sep-2005 12:15 PM
Personally, I think a few of the commentors were missing the point of the article. I was not upset about speaking with a Sales Rep. or discussing a product in-depth. Contrary to whatever impression you may have gotten, I did spend hours and days discussing and reviewing individual products (inc.demos).

My issues were with the way the sales process itself was handled in most cases (with a few stellar exceptions), which did not allow for an interested consumer to actually contact a Sales person, but, rather get passed on from one person (or contact type) to another, which after happening on consective inquiries, becomes to the consumer, highly annoying. My point about how the CRM process goes wrong was that I always I wanted to speak to a Sales Person and get a clear definition of the product's capabilities to determine that company's product and services' ability to meet our organization's needs, along with the courtesy of receiving a detailed and simple pricing.

Yes, I understand that CRM can be a very complex and individualized product (in the end), but, regardless, if you are buying an item, there has to be a starting price and you KNOW that there is a price range for a product. It is simple fact, there isn't a company that sells a product, in existence today, that has no idea how much they charge for what they sell. I understand dynamic pricing, and so on, but, still, there has to be a price range made available to your consumers without them having to jump through hoops to get an answer or idea of how much they need to budget. (i.e. e-mail mass marketing, you can send between 1 to 1 million e-mails and the price differs depending on how many you wish to send and how fancy a format, along with other options you wish to have added, REGARDLESS, the company providing the service knows darn well how much it costs them per e-mail or user or whatever and knows darn well what they charge (even if there are added charges per whatever bell or whistle you add).

So, for those of you that think I was advocating blind purchasing and blowing thousands of dollars (not to mention commiting the hardware, staff, time and other resources) on a CRM application without checking out each product individually and specifically, you are way off base.

For those of you that believe that the CRM Sales Process as I experienced it, was consumer friendly and lent itself to the Sales person's job being any easier once he/she actually had the opportunity to speak with me (you know after all of that screening and calling back by screeners, etc.) then you are sadly mistaken and I hope that at some point in time you have the joy of being on the consumer side of the coin in a like purchasing process at some time in your career. But, then again, if my words and descriptions haven't penetrated or have yet to move you, I doubt you would take notice of poor customers service and demand better from those with whom you buy.

Bonnie Buchanan

o2tan
Member

Posted 12-Sep-2005 11:07 AM
It all boils down to dog & tail.

If you're spending, you're the dog, and the tail don't wag the dog.

It's your money and your time, so tell the sales rep what you expect up front, and that if they can't provide it you're moving on. Watch how fast you can have it your way.

Ask for budgetary pricing quotes at different levels and identify the break points in pricing if that's a stumbling block. Tell whomever you're speaking with that it's a simple budgetary question, and that any further communication—and they're prospective sale—depends on it.

Do you research, know what you're buying, and then take control of the purchasing process. Even if that means moving on to the next vendor.