>> If you are involved in commercial enterprise, how do you deal with
>> customers (in the real world) who invariably do not supply all relevant
>> information from the beginning ?
>
> We have all had this problem. The way I usually deal with it is to say:
>
> "Sir, I do not have a clear enough picture of your needs, therefore I
> cannot make a fixed bid. If you would like, I will generate a
> SPECIFICATION DOCUMENT capable of being bid against, for $X per hour.
> Would you like me to do that?"
>
> People who KNOW what the problem is will pay you for your time. The rest
> won't, and you don't need those folks anyway, they will eat you alive.

This is so true.

This approach worked fine until about a year ago.  Now there a lot of
people out there who lost their jobs and have no experience in consulting.
They grasp at anything without realizing the trouble they are getting
themselves into.  Unfortunately this gives inexperienced prospects the
wrong view.  You can try to explain this to a prospect all you want, talk
about experience, give them referrals, etc, but in the end many will buy
on price anyway.  Yes, these are the ones that are going to be a pain in
the butt because they don't understand the realities of the business, but
unfortunately the market sucks and you can't afford to just pick the cream
of the crop like 1 1/2 years ago.

I used to say the best customer is one that's been to Vinny and back.
This is still true, but there are fewer customers and a lot more Vinnys
now.

It's getting much harder to sell quality to an inexperienced customer.  I
still haven't figured out a good answer to this.


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(978) 742-9014, http://www.embedinc.com

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