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A strategic feature of software is a value driver that generally has prerequisites in order to reap the benefits of the feature. The sales process generally skips the prerequisites (for obvious reasons). It is your responsibility as the buyer to understand precisely what it will take to reach the potential.
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About Jennifer Matt
Jennifer Matt is the managing editor of WhatTheyThink’s Print Software section as well as President of Web2Print Experts, Inc. a technology-independent print software consulting firm helping printers with web-to-print and print MIS solutions.
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Discussion
By Jamie Walsh on Jun 30, 2021
Enjoyed this read Jennifer and you make some excellent points. There are always more angles to look at and truly consider than a salesperson will highlight or a customer will choose to admit..
As a sales person, it is tempting to overlook these "dark areas" but if you don't, you are opening yourself up to a very bumpy ride (both short and long term) where you, your company and your solution lose credibility and in an industry that is so well connected, bad news travels fast.
By Jennifer Matt on Jun 30, 2021
Jamie,
I don't think it's the salesperson job to a) understand where the printer's business is truly today (very hard to figure that out during a sales cycle) b) bring all this up.
The buyer is responsible to for asking these questions. The buyer is responsible for being an educated buyer. We all so badly want to believe that simply buying something will solve complex challenges. It never does. If it did, nobody would have these challenges.
The buying the software part is the easy part. The making the software deliver on the ROI is where real differentiation happens.
Jen
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