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Early in my consulting career I worked for a DSS/OLAP software vendor that provided consulting services to promote the sale of the software. Consultants like myself were involved to at least some degree in selling activities that included examining the customer’s business, making preliminary recommendations, answering questions and RFPs, and giving customized demonstrations. That was all pre-sales. The purpose was to get the business. The demo was not just about the software: it was about our service. It really is hard to evaluate customer service from a sales pitch and a handshake. But if you actually do something for the customer (without doing too much) you have a better chance of getting his attention and, ultimately, his commitment.
Fast forward a few years. DSS/OLAP has evolved into Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence; vendors are getting bigger. Some are getting out of consulting altogether, relying on a network of consultant/resellers to promote their product. Now, a free demo is not a custom demo: it is canned, web-based, scripted, smoke and mirrors for mass consumption. “Look at the neat stuff our in-house geeks have dreamed up!” And in truth, it is pretty impressive to see in action. So how will it work in my environment? If I give you a sample of my data warehouse, can you demonstrate slice-and-dice, drill-down, and your neat query features on our data?
Sure. Just not for free.
I’m not unsympathetic to the reseller for being a little risk-averse. I know, from trying to sell my services, how much effort you put in to even find, let alone close, one deal. So doing a mini-consulting engagement on the “if-come” seems a little much. But what we are really dealing with here is a sale of a product. So consider the message that is being sent with a proposal to charge for a demo. “We never go the extra mile for the customer.” “This product is so complex we have to invest a lot of time to achieve the simplest request”. “You want the product, but we want to sell you consulting.”
Well, ok, you may say. Why does the customer want a custom demo, anyway?
It’s called “due diligence”. Enterprises launching BI initiatives a few years ago were entering largely uncharted territory. Decision makers had no experience with either data warehousing or with BI software, so a software vendor could come in and make an effective pitch, and the customer would choose the one that gave the best price and the glitziest demo.
Not anymore. While the territory may still be new for SMB clients, it isn’t exactly uncharted. Some of the decision makers may have experience with the leading BI products, which is both a good thing and a not so good thing. They know at least one product, warts and all, and they are looking at some of the newcomers to see if they have something better. So when a prospect asks for a custom demo of your product, he is offering you a chance to overcome his negative impressions, and show him your product really is the best in the field. Why on earth would you want to charge him for that?
And consider the multiplier effect. What enterprises is this customer affiliated with? Would a sale here lead to a sale to a parent company? Driven not just by the product, but by a satisfactory relationship with the vendor?
It just seems to me that charging consulting fees to make a sale is not intelligent business.
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