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Where There’s SMOP, There’s Ire
A little over a decade ago a sales rep for a small software tools company sold $300,000 worth of software to an insurance company in Orange County, CA. To this day, the software has never been delivered. The software tools company got paid, the sales rep cashed his commission check, and the insurance company went out of business. So how does a sales rep sell intelligent corporate executives something that may never work? It’s a Simple Matter of Programming (SMOP).
SMOP – A Simple Matter of Programming
As sales reps go, our enterprising rep wasn’t a bad guy. Whenever he needed to answer a question from a developer or CTO, he’d turn it around and ask a question back. A sales trainer once taught him to do that. This usually confused the prospect so thoroughly that the sales rep could always say, “yes” to just about any question. After all, it’s only a SMOP.
Later in his career our sales rep became the leader of a sales automation task force for a major Dot COM. He spent a year attempting to satisfy his user’s needs through the CRM system in which his IT people invested over $1 million. As he began to define Sales’ requirements, he asked the IT staff if the software would meet the challenge. After asking a series of questions, IT also said, “yes”. After all, it’s only a SMOP. Over a year later, the CRM system had yet to be delivered.
A SMOP Opp…or is it?
Our intrepid sales rep found himself in an interesting position. It was a new millennium and he had become VP of Sales for an ASP. Software is now delivered as a service. This service model required our VP of Sales’ company to actually deliver on his sales organizations’ claims of SMOP. So it seems corporate IT has a SMOP opportunity. Only this time every implementation MUST be delivered exactly as promised…provided the ASP survives, of course.
The lessons our young sales rep learned over the last decade or so are still being learned by corporate IT staff. Enterprise software projects require hundreds of thousands of dollars of investment in untold software packages. And then it’s only after six to twelve months of SMOP that the corporation actually discovers that success is yet another six months out or could, in fact, be unachievable.
On the outside it appears that ASP’s are standing ready and willing to deliver on SMOP. ASP’s eliminate the pitfalls of SMOP. Yes, it IS a Matter of Programming. But it’s definitely not Simple. So beware of the ASP that promises SMOP. For the SMOP you outsource due to cost, could be the SMOP that dooms your ASP.
Buying SMOP? Consult a recovering SMOP’er
Which brings us to the next chapter in the on going saga of our seasoned enterprise sales rep. No longer selling the ASP model due to a lack of funding, he now offers his services to the other side. You see, a power shift to IT is now available. And in order to move closer to success in the new millennium, IT needs to employ a reputable enterprise sales rep to help identify and negotiate the promises of upcoming SMOP.
Negotiating an out clause with an enterprise software solution vendor is essentially an oxymoron. Since SMOP cannot be completed within a defined timeline, IT needs help from the “Dark Side”. IT needs a recovering SMOP’er.
As our enterprising sales rep continues his journey through the roller coaster like adventure that is today’s technology workplace, he rests comfortably at night. For he stands ready to share his knowledge of how to help technology prospects avoid the pitfalls of a Simple Matter of Programming.
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