Mike posted some rants about his vendor pet peeves this morning. I like these two alot:
Don’t spend time on your background - In 90% of the cases, I’ve trolled your website before our briefing. So I’ve read the executive bios. You don’t have to tell me you did this or did that. I pretty much don’t care. If there is something interesting in your background that I want to discuss, I’ll bring it up. I’m not a bashful guy.
Where’s the beef? - Especially if we’ve spoken before, just get right to it. You’ve asked for my time, so don’t waste it by telling me stuff I already know. Give me a 2 minute update on your business (which may take longer if I have questions or want clarification) and then tell me why I care about your news or ask for my advice on something you are thinking about. Not much annoys me more than hearing stuff I already know.
Mike is an analyst, and vendors want him to talk about their stuff. But it is amazing that the pitch is the same if you are an analyst, an in-the-trenches professional, or a sales engineer like me. Basically, vendors have this desire to tell you everything about the history of their company. History is important, make no mistake. But like Mike says, if you are coming into my company with a pitch, I have already done my research. Just get to what needs to be said.
As a sales engineer, I try to know my customer. The vendor should make the same attempt by asking me to whom he is going to be speaking so he can modify his pitch. And I watch my customer when the vendor is pitching. If the customer is more technical, and they start looking kinda bored and start twitching or something, I pick up on that and push the vendor as needed.
Basically, get to the good stuff. If the customer wants the fluff, he will ask for it.
Vet
