As part
of the sales strategy we offered prospects to test our products in their own environment
for one month, before making a decision to buy the items. That was a successful
strategy because most of the times products proved to enhance performance,
flexibility and manageability in the network they were placed and prospects
became customers.
We did
the same at Gist Brocades in Delft, 2 CAU’s were placed in a separate ring of
the network to monitor and do some performance tests. After a few weeks the IT
guys already informed us that they were excited about the products and were
pushing the purchase department to approve the pro-forma invoice. Then the most
feared IT buyer in the Netherlands kicked in, asking for a lot of discount. We
were not used to give away money as we were convinced of the unique quality of
our products so we refused. Despite several attempts to trade a reasonable
quantity of products to earn some discount the guy did not move a single step
form his standpoint.
When we informed
him that the one month probation time was almost over and if he wanted to keep
using the product, paying the invoice was the only option. He refused so Andre
Mooi and I decided to go to Delft to try and convince him for the last time,
armed with just a screwdriver and with the plead from the IT guys on paper to
please leave the CAU’s in the network and give them more.
After 5
minutes in his office the guy decided to pay the invoice as received. His ego
and reputation in the Dutch market have never been the same ever since. The IT
guys got their additional Madge equipment as part of the 3 years replacement
strategy from Gist Brocades.
Arie Hakemulder
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