Any consultant who has landed a project after EMC sales and sales
engineers have "sold" the DCTM software suite knows that resetting
the client's expectations can be a challenge. The motivations of
sales and implementation are two completely difference animals. EMC Sales wants
licenses and commissions, Consultants want to design, develop, and deploy the
best possible solution (ideally). The intersection of these two perspectives is
the customer who, more times than not, ends up feeling deceived and gipped.
So how do we accommodate the claims of EMC sales? First, accept
that the client will want more than the software can deliver. For example, if
the sales engineer said InputAccel for invoices can learn automatically how to
pick up line items from an invoice, then you need to immediately explain in
fuller detail what validation means and the steps taken for IA to actually “learn”
the layout of an invoice.
Another example would be that it takes a few weeks to implement an
enterprise wide solution for content management. If you installed the vanilla
products and walked away maybe, but the client would be left with a car without
a clue how to drive it and no roads to follow.
Second, do not make promised that you know you can’t keep. If you
bid low to get a project, get ready to pay the consequences. Be honest and as
comprehensive as possible. Show the client the details where they will have to
pay more to accomplish what EMC sales had envisioned for them. The client wants
a great deal and everything for free, but it is your job to bring them back to
reality.
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