The Contrarian Technologist

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How I learned to hate the saying "Customers buy from people they know, like and trust" when I lived in DC, and now I have recently heard a version of it from someone well north of there, which means this horsesh*t is spreading beyond the beltway. I’ve attended a few seminars that touted this and similar concepts over the years and like all such marketing/sales “secrets” the underlying idea has some merit, but, only if it is part of a larger message. Unfortunately, this is not the case, the message is simplified and in the process a corollary truism is proved “Corporate America loves seminars that tell them what they want to hear”.

The underlying message is that customers are more likely to spend money with people that they already know and trust, and as a result, your marketing/sales efforts should be focused on identifying who you know, who your staff knows, and then concentrating your sales efforts on these clients. This is a perfectly straightforward concept and one that makes common sense and should be a factor for consideration in every company’s approach to marketing and sales.

So, you might ask “What’s the big problem?” Anytime you try to sum up a large complex activity into a one line concept it is subject to misapplication and justification for all sorts of other behavior. Attend one of these seminars with a bunch of sales/marketing/executive people and watch their behavior at the break after the concept has been introduced. As you approach one of the small corporate groups that cluster around the coffee and doughnuts you will sense a new level of excitement and perhaps even see the yuppie equivalent of “air guitar”; guys (and sometimes gals) pantomiming golf swings. Yes, they have heard the message and it is “We have a reason to play more golf”.

I admittedly don’t understand the fascination with golf. It’s an outrageously expensive hobby; it results in practically no real physical activity and has introduced some of the worst fashions ever to cover the male form. The only good thing I can say about it is that the creation of golf courses has resulted in the preservation of green spaces. But then golf universally attracts those individuals who would gladly pave every other square inch of land in existence if they could turn a dollar on it.

As a result of these well meaning seminars, I have watched as sales people abruptly migrated their approach from “We need to schedule a technical presentation” to “I need to call and set up a golf date for Friday”. All of a sudden the technical staff are no longer needed, “We never understood what they were saying anyway” and now business can just be all about having fun and drinking. “We don’t need to focus building technology expertise, our customers will tell us what they want and buy it from us. We’ll just hire the people after we win the work.” When this approach is successful the resulting projects are often poorly scoped, underbid, and often doomed for failure. The simple fact that is often missed is that customers will only buy things from you that they want and need, and that they think you can successfully deliver. If you are “lucky” enough to have the kind of customers that will buy hundreds of thousands of dollars of product and services from you just because you bought them some drinks and took them out for a few rounds of golf, then buckle up, your 15 minutes of fame is right around the corner on CNN.

All things being equal, customers will certainly buy from people they already know and like. But don’t fool yourself; if someone else has a product that the customer is convinced is better or significantly cheaper, they will set aside their dislikes every time. (And there is nothing in this equation that says that the customer will make the right or best decision; after all you are probably not the only vendor wining and dining them)

I have bought a slew of cars over the years from car sales people that made me want to shower afterwards. I would never consider buying a vehicle I didn’t want or paying more for the car because I found a salesman more likable than any other. (If this concept worked, I'd think there would be a lot more female salespeople) I have bought software from Microsoft (and once put an office chair out in the rain for two days after an exceptionally slimy Microsoft sales rep sat in it) not because I liked them, but because I perceived their product to be better than the competition’s product. I have lost deals with friends, because some other company undercut my price by $100 dollars and I have committed similar sins over the years as well. Loyalty certainly counts for something and when I have a relationship with a customer I expect to be given the opportunity to make my pitch and to offer advice, but even that is not always guaranteed. The bottom line is; customers want to buy the best product at the best price. Other things will influence the decision, but IMO, you will sell far more by focusing on delivering the best quality at the best price.