God Morning All, There is another side to this story. Having been on the manufacturing side, I can tell you it is fairly common place for upper management to send sales on "Fact Finding" missions to explore what our "Customers really want?"
The usual result is that the customers want things like good products, real support, functional return procedures, value for their money, predictable product delivery schedules etc. Since most of these things would require the company to invest some money and affect real changes, the results go to a "decision considerer" who then decides either to implement or not implement or more likely further consider the suggestions. The result, in some companies - real tangible efforts are made to improve. In most companies the "decision considerers" got there by kissing butt in the first place and when a real decision needs to be made their primary role is to cover their own backside, result - time for another Fact Finding Mission. ------Original Mail------ From: <[email protected]> To: "WISPA General List" <[email protected]> Sent: Wed, 27 May 2009 14:50:11 -0700 Subject: Re: [WISPA] clues for vendors OOOOHHFFF... You mean this magic secret society decoder ring is worthless? I dunno if I've been wiser or dumber, but anyone who requires me to give them every detail about me before they'll tell me about their product has NEVER had the chance to sell it to me. I get some of the same stuff you apparently get, and have nearly the same reaction. If you want me to invest lots of my time on decisions I already know how to make, then you're just out of luck. I second your notion. Vendors: Tell me what it does. Tell me what it costs. Tell me how it does it. And then tell me why I'd want to buy from you rather than the "other guy". Be direct, concise, accurate. Don't waste my time. I'll do my best to not waste yours. Deal? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ <insert witty tagline here> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Randy Cosby" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:16 AM Subject: [WISPA] clues for vendors > Names have been changed to protect the ignorant. > > I want to vent for a minute on a marketing practice with some wireless > equipment vendors that really just doesn't work for me, or maybe I just > don't get it. > > I get emails all the time inviting me to be a "SuperAirPlusExtremeMax > Partner" from one vendor or another. Apparently, without becoming a > "Partner" I cannot really learn useful information about their products > (like price). I can read through their marketing fluff on their web > site, and can sometimes download spec sheets on the products (some > require partnership registration to even do this). In order to become a > "partner" I usually have to sit through a webinar to have more marketing > fluff pushed at me. > > Just give me the meat. I pretty much know what I can get Canopy, > Dragonwave, Tranzeo, Trango, etc. for. I can freely read forums on many > of these more "open" vendor sites as I investigate where I want to > invest. I don't need a "partnership" commitment and a marketing guy to > push his "spiffed" products on me. I can ask for information if I need > it, and be enticed into "partnership" programs that offer me better > discounts after I narrow my choices down. > > To make matters worse, on one particular site, I have signed up at least > twice to be a "partner" and still have no clue why I would choose that > company as a vendor vs another. I got one call from a marketing guy ( > who no longer works there ) who never returned later emails or phone > calls with specific questions about the products. Guess I wasn't > "worthy" of their time or "partnership." > > Just open up the information, answer our questions publicly, and let us > scrutinize them and compare stories. I'll never buy your products > otherwise. I don't care to be part of a secret society just to get the > information I need to make sound business decisions. > > Am I alone? > > -- > Randy Cosby > Vice President > InfoWest, Inc > > work: 435-773-6071 > email: [email protected] > > http://www.linkedin.com/in/randycosby > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! 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