That's really the big secret to being a successful salesman: make the customer happy.
Believe it or not, there are high rollers in the business who make the customer unhappy, but I guarantee you that this way never works out in the long term. I've seen aggressive bastards who cram deals down the client's throat simply by wearing them out: "Come on! What are you waiting for? I've got all this ready-to-go, and you're hanging your ass on the line with your superiors by not just signing the dotted line already!" I worked at one place where the Alpha Male stole from other people's orders to fill his faster. It made them look like buffoons to their clients because they were always "losing" parts of their orders. Alpha sold massive quantities at a loss, to gouge it all out on the next deal.
This is the tipping point between getting one's foot in the door and begging for a restraining order. Alpha Male would also pad the order with the wrong things, just to fix the numbers in the "Quantity" column and make it look like he'd turned the sale around: 15 of the flat-panels you need, 5 wrong ones that were lying around, and let you take the two weeks to figure it out and turn it around: not his problem, he put 20 monitors on your loading dock in 24 hours and you damn well better pay. He knew that in a large company, the guy that signs the deal isn't the guy that unpacks it at the dock and has to send some of it back.
Sales is the worst way to come into IT. I used to spend my time trying to make everyone happy, and in application development that is one of the worst things you can do. Because it means you start thinking about how to gloss over the rough spots when you have to meet with the client. You figure out ways to make it sound like things are going well when you have a fire on your hands. Making the customer happy, as I have learned, is absolutely not the same thing as "managing expectations."
Managing Expectations is really what software development is all about. These aren't widgets, and anyone who's spent any time in IT knows that a) there is no "turn-key solution" and b) "out of the box" is never what you want. Pretend otherwise and you're setting yourself up for failure.
- Tell your clients when something goes wrong.
- Tell them if you don't think it's a good fit
- Don't cover your ass, because bad things grow in the dark
- Don't throw anyone under the bus, because you never know when you're going to need them again
and most important:
- Ask questions if you're not sure you've got it right
I can't begin to tell you how many applications I've seen get all the way to the demo, only to leave the customer baffled and angry: "Why did it look like that? That's not what our people do at all!"
Some people are afraid that going back and asking questions makes them look stupid. The truth is, it shows that you are listening. And that you care about the customer. My father is a master at sales, and he taught me a golden rule in dealing with people: that they love to talk about themselves. Let them talk, take an interest, and start thinking about how you can make that match with what you want to do for them, and you have a winner of a deal.
Leveling with a customer about things that aren't working can be your saving grace; everyone knows that software doesn't come out on time, delays happen, changes get made, and things don't work out the way they should. Being earnest about your intentions will carry you a lot farther than throwing a curtain over it all and pretending The Great and Powerful Oz has the situation under control. And last but not least, the simple courtesies can speak volumes about you: don't be late to a meeting (call or e-mail if you are), don't interrupt, and if you can't seem to communicate with the client, just do the listening, and save the convincing arguments for another day, when you can think it over and plan up a good way to show them why your way might be better.
And as for the Alpha Males? The customer may sign the contract, but they'll never be happy with the destination if you got them there via railroad.
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