In response to my blog on Making salespeople sweat at quarter end, I received kudos from a number of software executives. And a brickbat from a buyer. Here is his comment:
"I felt the software negotiating strategies were a bit Utopian only because the software vendors are still playing by the old rules. I just completed a software negotiation with Oracle and we insisted that we were not to be driven by end of qtr tactics. That said, Oracle sweetened the pot 5 days before the end of the quarter to accelerate the deal. Same old Oracle."
Good job, Oracle - keep doing that and even more buyers will make fun of my attempt to get them away from that tired practice.
Well in that blog I did promise to list some sales "stupid tricks"...here are a few more
a) "Revenue recognition"
a common excuse during negotiations is "our accountants will not allow a certain concession because it will cause us to defer revenue". A client CFO challenged a software salesman and asked to speak to his Controller about a so-called recognition issue. The issue magically disappeared soon after. We agreed it probably was a "commission recognition" issue rather than a revenue recognition issue.
b) "Discount shock"
"I cannot believe you can even talk about such a steep discount - never happens in our industry" - said a salesperson during a negotiation last year. I emailed him a link to the Department of Justice website which made public several of Oracle's pricing and discount sheets. Sheepishly, he agreed to a higher discount a few days later. Realize there are many buyers who bluff, but a few of us have benchmarks to back us up.
c) "But we do not make margin on travel expenses"
This is a consultant favorite to justify their 15 to 20% travel expenses in addition to fees. During one negotiation given the "no margin" explanation a few times, I told the consultant "But it is real money to my client. He would rather only pay 5%. Propose more local staff, and only fly in critical resources" See more why on long-term projects those additional expenses are budget and productivity killers in my blog on consultant travel.
