Cellular operators have a very sly saying: “Not a single telecom operator has stolen a penny from subscribers - everything happens out of ignorance, ignorance and oversight of the subscriber.” Why didn’t you go into your personal account and turn off services, why did you press the pop-up button when viewing your balance and subscribe to jokes for 30 rubles. per day, why didn't they check the services on the SIM? And this position of "the fool himself" is very convenient for the seller - "we strived for the best, but the client did not appreciate it and simply does not need a beep and porn wallpapers for the screen." Alas, this craftiness is inherent in all areas of business: from pet stores to system integrators. Yes, this does not apply to all companies, but it happens quite often. Forewarned is forearmed: let's look at the tricks of vendors and ways to deal with them. We hope they don't shoot us around the corner 😉
Summary of the saga of corporate market relations
small disclaimer
does not provide the names of specific companies, since situations and rules of use may change over time, and highlighting negative features is unfair competition.
We will not consider egregious cases of outright fraud on the part of vendors and their dealers, criminal plots such as blocking software for the provision of paid services, etc. - this is the responsibility of law enforcement agencies and arbitration courts, and not vendor articles on Habré. We're talking about peaceful tricks.
We are for a total educational program in the field of automation and against vendor battles in public. Therefore, take it into service and be careful, and who to choose is up to you.
Choosing and buying CRM
Demo Version
Imagine that you choose a car for yourself, having 2 months of driving experience and 3-4 extra million. You are insanely fascinated by BMW's alpine extreme drives and you decide: yes, it is stable, powerful, with excellent traction on ice (useful in winter), heavy, but maneuverable. Go to the salon and buy. And then - something is somehow wrong, and it skids on the ice, and the dimensions are somehow not for Moscow traffic jams, and the tires are completely different ... There was a fairy tale! Hardly anyone would do that, right?
And they do this with CRM, what vendors use. So, the first trick: the demo version always works perfectly. There are several demonstration options.
- Demonstration in the vendor's office or on your premises. The demo version is deployed on optimally selected and perfectly tuned hardware and environment, a professional works with it before your eyes, wake him up at night and he will drive you through all the functionality. To heighten the mood, funny pictures, jokes, complex schemes, and so on are added.
- The demo version on the developer's site is a compiled (usually, although sometimes worse) version that you can install/register and get started. This is a story that is closer to life, but again, you get software with practically no records in the database, that is, as unloaded as possible.
- A demo at a conference is another format to “charm” a client. The features built into the speaker’s report are honed to automatism, the entire assembly is set up and debugged, there are a couple of assistants in the hall who will insure if the audience does not support the interactive. It looks like magic from the outside, but in reality, of course, everything is somewhat different.
- PowerPoint presentation - it seems that the story is beyond good and evil, but there are presentations with screenshots of CRM systems (and any corporate software) and embedded videos. It is clear that everything works perfectly for them.
The software will never immediately work the way it does in the demo. It will require tuning, experience in operation and debugged work to become a reference.
Demo version of Kamaz
How to bypass the trick?
- First of all, check that there is a demo version - if the vendor does not provide any demo, it is better to choose another developer.
- Having carefully read the vendor's demo, install the demo version and just try to work in it: get a client, make a deal, check how processes, calendars work, documents are generated, etc. This will be your battle stand and you will understand if the system has everything you need. Nuance: you may not immediately like the CRM system, so rely on the feature set, and not on subjective feelings.
Attractive price
The most difficult and common trick is working with prices. Again, there are several options.
- There are no prices on the site - the so-called "hidden price". The price will be given to you only after the collection of primary requirements and information about your company, which will determine the final value. Accordingly, you are guaranteed to get the highest price acceptable for your segment.
- The site has prices with a constructor - you collect your configuration and get the approximate cost of licenses at the output. Interactive captivates and increases the time of interaction with the site, but does not change the state of affairs, because. some questions are too general, and, alas, the cost will be approximate. The most extreme of what I have seen is a 54-question questionnaire, which then requires contact details and only after that the manager contacts you. Bypassing the questionnaire and just talking with the company manager was unrealistic, they simply refused.
- The site is and / or - you can calculate the cost of the licenses you need yourself (this is how we implemented it for ), and it will be absolutely accurate (well, if you do not ask for a volume discount as well). However, you need to remember that this is only the cost of licenses, not implementation. Is it possible to get a CRM system for this price? Yes, but you will implement and train yourself. There are such clients, and they often really successfully cope with the task, since in our case they are helped by detailed documentation and training videos.
The most important misconception here is to consider the cost of licenses as the cost of implementation, that is, the entire CRM project for your company. .
How to bypass the trick?
Understand that you receive information about the cost of licenses. Information on the full cost of implementation can only be available after the creation and signing of the terms of reference, which will take into account all the requirements of your business. Demand that all work be divided into tasks and have a clearly defined price. And it’s good for you - you will know the budget, and the vendor is protected - it will do the work strictly according to the TOR, and not according to the HZ, as it happens.
Rent or buy
This was once one of the favorite tricks of CRM vendors, but today it has evolved into a delivery system and is already the standard for selling enterprise software. However, pay attention to some circumstances.
- Renting can be beneficial for you if you do not have a budget to purchase software right away - you can fully use CRM and abandon it if you realize that this particular development is not suitable for you. For example, we usually sell CRM as a project (no subscription fees), but there are and installments for those who are not ready to buy right away.
- Rent is always more expensive. Consider for yourself: from month to month you will pay a certain amount, which by 3-4 years of owning a CRM system will surpass the cost of any on-premise (when you pay once for a project). The cost of ownership turns out to be very high, which is beneficial to the vendor (constant stream of payments) and disadvantageous to you. However, quite often a company consciously chooses a lease (payments are “smeared out” on the budget).
But this is not the main thing (although how can money for a company be such?) The devil lies in the word “rent” - unlike purchased licenses, rented licenses do not belong to you, but belong to the vendor and he can roll up any updates, stop providing services, change lease terms, raise prices, etc. For example, one of the small vendors of corporate software provided under the SaaS model once sent out letters to its customers demanding to “pull out” data for 2 weeks and close the contract, since he considers this part of the business unprofitable (in the letter the reason sounded more decent) - in a “non-core » asset hit 600 users worldwide. A drop in the ocean, yes, but this is the story of several dozen companies that have suffered losses.
How to bypass the trick?
Buy on-premise versions and contact . It's a joke 🙂 In today's market, you can't get around the trick with most vendors, so carefully read the contract, follow the updates and properly manage backups (you can lose access to the database at the most inopportune moment). Well, count the money.
Changing a vendor to a dealer or partner
Also a trick that has long ceased to be such. There are vendors on the market (large and small) who, in principle, almost never carry out the implementation themselves, but outsource the process to their dealers in your region. Everything would be fine if it were not for a small nuance: everyone and sundry become partners, from advertising agencies and web-studios to (suddenly!) Fitness and stretching studios. And it's a big question whether you're going to get a key partner or these Pilates guys. Accordingly, the quality of implementation will greatly depend on this. It’s bad that you can get to a company without experience simply through advertising on search or on social networks. As a result, you wind up nerves on a bundle of money, and you get very poorly working software that is not adapted to your processes.
How to bypass the trick?
- If you like a specific CRM, contact the central office or find a certified partner in your city/region. So the probability of dealing with a reliable partner is higher.
- Ask the implementing company for vendor certification, ask questions about completed projects, read reviews on the Internet. If in doubt, call the head office and check the status of the company you are starting to work with.
- Do not leave your data in questionnaires on social networks, only on company websites.
- Play bad customer: ask tough questions, be tough (but not rude!), set out detailed requirements. The weakest companies will refuse to deal with you and "merge".
The same group of tricks includes two more, which it makes no sense to single out in a separate section.
- Imposing an experience that does not exist - the implementer will tell you that he "implemented a system for a pharmaceutical warehouse a hundred times, like yours", but in fact he googles what a "pharmaceutical warehouse" is. Splitting is easy - ask for typical business details, clarify how typical business processes for your area are automated. Dudes with no experience will swim.
- Provision of inexperienced employees. Newcomers to the company should also train on cats, and your task is not to be a guinea pig. Ask your manager about his experience, ask questions about the specifics of implementation, discuss the action plan - an experienced manager will immediately understand who is in front of him. Require a competent and experienced vendor employee, and let the newcomers assist, it’s not a pity and it’s safe.
Offering a more sophisticated version of the software
So, back to our BMW. You need a car for travel home-cottage-work-easy travel, but they offer you this configuration: M Sport differential and braking system, adaptive suspension, improved ergonomics, etc. In addition - + 1,2 million to the price. The manager says unique handling at 230 km/h. WOW! And then you stand in a traffic jam on the bridge and think, where would you develop 230 at least once, for which you overpaid a million?
The same story with CRM - the manager will offer you the most sophisticated version of the CRM system, with a bunch of functions, add-ons, mechanisms, etc. The most common argument is: “You will soon see that you will need everything.” And there is some truth here - it is better to buy a system that covers most of your requirements, and not some basic things. BUT! If you are offered a system, for example, with warehouse management, and you know for sure that in the foreseeable future you will definitely not have it, the question is - why do you need this advantage?
How to bypass the trick?
Write down all the requirements for the CRM system and compare with the proposed functionality. Yes, you will never find an exact match, there will still be extra features, but you will be able to cut off those tariffs that definitely do not suit you (for example, for 200 employees with 15, huge disk space with a small client base and a moderate number of transactions and etc.). In general, an accurate understanding of what you want is a great start to a conversation with a vendor.
The desire to kill a competitor at any cost
It is not uncommon for a vendor manager to ask what other software vendors you are considering. For him, this is a great clue - every salesperson of a worthwhile vendor has a complete table of positioning and detuning from competitors (not only CRM specialists, providers, telecom operators, hosters, etc.) have in front of their noses. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this, but if you are a large client and we are talking about a million or more, an unproductive war for the client may begin: they will come to you with gifts, they will invite you to a restaurant, they will pay you for the road to Moscow and entertainment in it , as long as you choose this particular vendor. At the same time, you will not receive any information about the benefits, technical parameters and prices - the emotional sale will prevail, and the process itself will be delayed. So what? The fact is that behind such actions lies a dangerous message: for each of your wishes you will be answered “we will do it”, and then the “we will do it” part will turn into “it’s impossible” or in “unrealistic terms”, and this is already very bad for starting a full-fledged operation.
How to bypass the trick?
- If you are interested in a comparison with a specific system, feel free to ask questions and listen carefully to the answers: they must be objective, without black PR.
- If the vendor himself took the initiative and started a direct comparison of himself and competitors with names, beware and stop this direction, let them know that you will draw the conclusions yourself.
- Discuss each requirement in detail and specify whether it will be fixed in the terms of reference signed as an annex to the contract.
- For the answer “we will do it”, at least specify the approximate timing and degree of increase in the cost of the implementation project.
Implementation of CRM
So, you buy a car that is brought to you immediately to the garage or to the parking lot without your participation. You come all in anticipation to plop down on the seat, put your hands on the steering wheel, proudly look at the coveted nameplate and ... And there are no wheels, wipers, the car is fixed on props. Razuli? No, they put on shoes: wheels are a paid option, the keys will also be given to you for an additional amount, but gasoline as a gift is a whole half tank. Another phantasmagoria? And that's exactly what happens in software sales.
Hiding the Cost of Infrastructure
This is the first surprise that will await you during implementation. You suddenly find out that the cloud is public, and renting a private one is more expensive, find out that you need to pay extra for MS SQL for your needs or for Oracle DB, scheduled backups are exclusively paid, a paid add-on is needed for stable mail operation, the primary will not work without a connector for $ 300, and telephony should be only from Romashka Telecom, otherwise there may be difficulties with the functionality of a virtual PBX. Simply put, you will learn that even a cloud service has its own infrastructure, not to mention on-premise. You have already paid for the licenses and most likely will pay for the rest to finally start working.
Moreover, for sure, all these details are set out in the user agreement, contract or on the site under ***, and you voluntarily agreed to these expenses without knowing about them. And what is most surprising, not all vendors include these parameters in the initial cost of the software - either they forget to do this, or they expect to earn a little more if they break up and resell the infrastructure.
How to bypass the trick?
- Read the agreements, even better - read with employees so that they appreciate the moments directly related to their work. An indispensable assistant here is the system administrator. If buying online, explore the entire site inside and out.
- Learn a simple scheme: any corporate software = interface + DBMS + infrastructure, and each element has its own cost. On the shore, specify what additional investments will be needed for full-fledged work.
Integrations? No problem!
But this is already a very interesting trick: the vendor can promise you all the necessary integrations and they really will be. But the understanding of integration between you and the vendor may differ. Of course, IP-telephony, the site and 1C are leading here. A vendor may mean by integration a simple data exchange, without complex operations and functions, without scheduled actions. And then for the implementation of the tasks that you need, you will receive a bill for revision, and a rather big one: it’s one thing for a vendor to refine their own software, and another thing to mess with API, connectors and your configurations. As a result, you will not get the work of the automation system that you need.
How to bypass the trick?
- First of all, understand whether you really need integration. It happens that a client wants integration because others have it, because he heard it somewhere, because one and only employee out of all seems to need it. Decide within the company with the profile of using the software bundle, with the frequency of working with the integrated solution. Most likely, you will be surprised to find that you do not really need it and save money.
Why do you need integration with 1C and what does “total integration” mean?
- If you find out that integrations are justified and necessary for business processes, specify the boundaries and scope of integration right away, indicate to the vendor why you need this or that solution.
Using CRM
Support packages as a commitment
Let's make a reservation right away: technical support is work, and you need to pay for it, like for any other. There is some basic minimum that is included in customer service, there is a force majeure due to the fault of the vendor (something did not start, a bug was detected, etc.), but there are calls for every reason and the requirement to “file reports” of all stripes and views - and of course, for free. In this case, the vendor offers a paid package of priority technical support (which, by the way, reports and improvements are still not included). This is the norm.
But the trick is that some vendors include paid technical support in the cost of implementation - for some period (the first year) or forever (until you refuse this service). Even worse, most often you cannot refuse this service - it is mandatory when buying CRM.
How to bypass the trick?
- If you don’t need advanced technical support and are ready to handle it yourself, ask the vendor to exclude the support package from the payment - with a high probability even those developers who made the service strictly mandatory will do this, because implementation is already expensive.
- If you do not mind such a package, please clarify what is included in it and what restrictions exist. In fact, in the first year of working with a CRM system, an extended priority TP is a useful thing, which sometimes allows you to save on paid one-time calls.
Updates
Again, an update is a cool thing, especially if it rolls in automatic mode and does not bring any tangible changes, except for bug fixes and software performance improvements. There are no and cannot be any complaints about such updates. But, as you already understood, there are other options.
- The SaaS provider rolls out an update with changed logic and functionality - for example, some module you need may disappear. Most often, the vendor notifies of such changes, but it happens that in the morning the entire user company is in for a surprise. On-premise CRM, as a rule, warns about a major update and offers to install it yourself.
- Major updates come at an additional cost, which is fine because you get strongly updated software with the necessary and relevant functions. However, you may not need the functionality, or you may not have free money to upgrade at the time it is offered to you.
How to bypass the trick?
- If you are serviced by a cloud vendor, look for the “Get updates” checkbox and uncheck it, or contact your manager and find out how you can install updates on demand, and not forced. Before rolling out an update, study the changes and consider what processes in your work they will affect.
- If the vendor offers to install a major update for an additional fee, again study the changes and evaluate how much you need this update. However, we do not recommend that you "score" on updates once and for all: the vendor may stop supporting older versions, and this will already be a big technological problem.
The rule is simple: updates are good and necessary, the main thing is not to let a version with serious changes be installed without prior consent. For example, at the end of 2018, we offered our customers an important and necessary paid update, including one related to a change in the VAT rate. This was the case when the update was vital for customers, and we were able to roll it out as quickly as possible with this and many other useful and cool updates (including currency accounting, redesigned business processes and a deeply modified unique KPI calculation system).
Selling partner services for a percentage
We can recommend to our clients one or another service that we use ourselves, but we do not have any shares, referral deductions and other commissions from this (although some providers are already outraged by the fact of refusing to cooperate with them). But often vendors insist on connecting telephony, chat, CMS, etc. from a specific partner, since they have their own remuneration in various forms - from a one-time commission to revenue sharing (permanent payment for using services). In particularly difficult cases, they say that their system will only work with sites on a certain CMS, and call only through a specific IP telephony and host the service only in a specific cloud.
How to bypass the trick?
It will not always be possible to get around - if the restrictions apply to CMS, for example, then only refinement will save you, or you will have to refuse to use the functionality. With IP telephony or a cloud provider, it’s easier: ask the vendor in a boring and boring way why there is such a restriction on the provider’s services, tell us about who you work with and why, ask about the possibility of connecting to your provider. Most likely, a solution to the problem will be found after short but firm negotiations. If you don’t need some additional service, plugin, addon, connector, feel free to refuse, their absence will in no way affect the functional integrity and operation of the CRM system (unless, of course, this is a crutch to some foreign system or a functionally important element such as an email client, mailing list manager, etc., here you have to “sit down” on an additional subscriber or pay once).
People
The human factor in the process of purchasing and implementing corporate software plays a huge role, and it would be a sin not to take advantage of the situation, not to apply psychology and not try to make money on this human factor.
Inexperienced decision maker (decision maker)
Imagine a successful clothing business owner and a stylish designer of comfortable clothes, sheathing a couple of federal districts, comes to a car dealership and chooses a car. She wants a beautiful, comfortable and reliable car, she is not told about the size of the engine, horsepower, drives, types of disks, tire pressure control ... This does not mean that she is dumb and she should be offered to rub the coating with carnauba wax of the Aleutian Amazon bee for 50 rubles. Or yes? 😉
Yes, the decision maker may be technically inexperienced and not understand automation issues. He pays money and trusts the vendor. But some vendors decide that this is a great way to sell a few additional expensive services and bells and whistles.
How to bypass the trick?
Don't work alone: your team members and system administrator can help you navigate through requirements and confusing specifications.
Discrimination against an employee of the company responsible for implementation
And this is a very terrible, often fatal situation. At some point, the vendor manager working on the client side suddenly declares that the system administrator, the head of the implementation team, or even the CIO is a deeply incompetent person and a pest who needs to be fired as soon as possible, because he prevents the implementation of such a beautiful, literally the best in the world. the CRM market. And he does this for sure because he didn’t understand or wants to lobby the interests of another developer, who, of course, paid him.
Such a statement should alert you: what does the vendor have to do with the assessment of your employee, why is he so directly stating the problem?
How to bypass the trick?
The probability that this is really a trick and an attempt to eliminate the techie in its path is at least 90%. Therefore, act correctly and firmly.
- Ask the vendor manager what the claims are, focus not on emotions (“he doesn’t care about the company”), but on the technical and managerial component.
- Discuss the situation with the employee, ask him about the reasons for opposing implementation: perhaps he will open your eyes to serious shortcomings and tell you how to deal with them and how best to proceed so that investing in corporate software does not turn out to be a waste.
- Draw conclusions, meet with the working group in full force and discuss all controversial points.
The unethical behavior of the vendor's employees is a reason to change the manager or even the development company itself. Business is not a place for manipulation.
Kickbacks
A rollback is a no less terrible situation, the reverse of the previous one. An employee actively lobbies a certain vendor, drowns for his CRM (any other software), gushing with arguments and is ready to convince everyone: from a sales intern to a CEO. It is very difficult to understand whether he really liked CRM so much or whether he received a kickback for its implementation (monetary or other incentive from the vendor). This is no longer a trick - it's a trap, and if you don't have a security team, read on carefully.
Rollback is not just a traditional benefit. This is a lobby, having the right employees within your team, disrupting the implementation of the “wrong” software, fake internal expertise (“yes, you need to pay for revision, and we also need integration with the ISS modules and the NASA central console”), etc.
Haulers are waiting for a reward from the vendor
How to bypass the trap?
- Pay attention to the relationship between the workgroup and the vendor. Where did the decision about this particular CRM come from, whether employees were invited to conferences, expensive retreats, the company's birthday, etc. Sometimes it is in such cool and impressive conditions that profitable offers are made.
- Note if the employee(s) has frequent close contact on the vendor's premises.
- Assess whether the employee's financial situation (last iPhone, tablet, watch, etc.) has changed recently.
- Ask an employee about the comparison of the selected system with competitors - you will learn in a sharp and categorical form that only this one out of 20 popular programs is worthy of attention, prices will be inflated, and the advantages of competitors will be leveled and denied.
- To avoid kickbacks, use a complex chain of decision-making about implementation, supplier selection, internal control and audit.
- As a last resort, check corporate mail and corporate calls - in the event of a rollback, the logic of correspondence is often lost, since communication goes into private communication channels.
It is worth remembering that a rollback is possible in any case: there are large companies that for 3-4 million rubles. they won’t even get dirty, because their average check is much higher and there are small ones who are ready to fork out for a reward with a check of 500-600 thousand rubles. (again, this can be an initiative at the employee-employee level, which is most often the case).
In software, as in any engineering system, there is no 100% guarantee of fault tolerance, stability, or security. If you are guaranteed them, you should think about whether there will be the same lie in further relationships. The main rule when working with a vendor is to trust, but not to make a mistake yourself, get involved in the process, clarify, find out the details and delve into the essence of all processes. Do not be afraid to be known as a bore and a thinker - working for the benefit of your business and in its interests has never been shameful. Believe me, being branded as a sucker is much worse. In general, watch out!
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Source: habr.com