You only get out what you put in

Many years ago, I was carrying out an online demonstration of an ERP software solution to a prospect when they halted the demo after around thirty minutes. “I’ve seen enough” they said. “I’m happy with what I’ve seen. I don’t need to see any more. If you send me the contract, we can get things moving!”

The prospect (soon to be customer) was happy. The salesman sitting in on the demo was ecstatic. However, I was uncomfortable. There had been one basic qualifying call and a quick demo. We’d never met. We knew very little about his business and he knew even less about our software. There was every chance this wouldn’t end well. 

I encouraged him to look at the software in more detail but he refused. He was busy and he just wanted to get on with it.

I wish I could there was a happy ending to the story but there wasn’t. The project stumbled along before he eventually admitted defeat. He told me later on that he only bought our software because we sent him with so many emails that he thought he should go for it.

It turns out that we’d never sent him a marketing email. We did have some Google adwords campaigns using some of our competitors as keywords so it’s highly likely he wasn’t even looking for our product! 

Selecting the right software, especially something as critical as an ERP solution is an important activity. You will only get out of it what you put in. It is vital that you invest sufficient time and resource to enable you to make an informed decision.