Comments on: A Software Salesperson Being Honest http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/ Mark Graban's leanblog.org - Lean Healthcare, Lean Thinking, Lean Manufacturing, Toyota Production System Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:59:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Neutron Jerk http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3829 Neutron Jerk Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:45:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3829 Wow, that guy doesn't realize he's being ripped on this blog and in the comments. Or, he's in denial and is just a ruthlessly sunny personality. You're ripping me? Great! Thanks for the publicity.<br/><br/>From the "flow" crap, he must have been selling Oracle software to executives who didn't know better. Wow, that guy doesn’t realize he’s being ripped on this blog and in the comments. Or, he’s in denial and is just a ruthlessly sunny personality. You’re ripping me? Great! Thanks for the publicity.

From the “flow” crap, he must have been selling Oracle software to executives who didn’t know better.

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]]> By: Wall Street Seller http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3827 Wall Street Seller Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:20:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3827 Hi...The "Catch Me If you Can" guy here...First off, thanks for the compliment. I AM an honest salesguy. My book outlines a way to get your deal done by thinking like a CEO, and through the course of my career I DID learn a lot about lean. While I am not a "techie" by any means, I can hold my own for 15 rounds when it comes to, well, OK, maybe not "lean," but FLOW MANUFACTURING. Anyway, there are many more stories in the book about lean and manufacturing, including how you have to let your clients know that implementing Flow Manufacturing can actually lower their Gross Profts if you aren't careful!<br/><br/>Thank you again, and if you would like to see the book, drop me a line at my website!<br/><br/>-- Mark Hi…The “Catch Me If you Can” guy here…First off, thanks for the compliment. I AM an honest salesguy. My book outlines a way to get your deal done by thinking like a CEO, and through the course of my career I DID learn a lot about lean. While I am not a “techie” by any means, I can hold my own for 15 rounds when it comes to, well, OK, maybe not “lean,” but FLOW MANUFACTURING. Anyway, there are many more stories in the book about lean and manufacturing, including how you have to let your clients know that implementing Flow Manufacturing can actually lower their Gross Profts if you aren’t careful!

Thank you again, and if you would like to see the book, drop me a line at my website!

– Mark

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]]> By: Christopher Whittaker http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3816 Christopher Whittaker Sat, 26 Jul 2008 01:32:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3816 Hello , <br/><br/>I am a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt in an FMCG manufacturer in Australia.<br/><br/>What concerns me more than anything is the damage 'pretend" practitioners can create in a very fast developing market for the LSS industry.<br/><br/>Several companies are investing thousands of dollars to hire so called 'experts" who leave a trail of havoc and little or no results or deliver any benefits which gives our industry a bad name.<br/><br/>I for one would be first to sign up for a professional body that would oversea practitioners in the industry in much the same way as accountants have CPAs to weed out the pretenders and wannabees. Hello ,

I am a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt in an FMCG manufacturer in Australia.

What concerns me more than anything is the damage ‘pretend” practitioners can create in a very fast developing market for the LSS industry.

Several companies are investing thousands of dollars to hire so called ‘experts” who leave a trail of havoc and little or no results or deliver any benefits which gives our industry a bad name.

I for one would be first to sign up for a professional body that would oversea practitioners in the industry in much the same way as accountants have CPAs to weed out the pretenders and wannabees.

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]]> By: Bob Yokl http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3812 Bob Yokl Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:40:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3812 I agree with David, they buyers should have had a very good idea of the of what his/her functional requirements and results he/she was looking for from the software before they even entertained a salesperson to show their wares. Unfortunately, many businesses big and small do not work that way and that is why they invest huge dollars in software that they never use effectly or even worse do not use it at all. <br/><br/>Reminds me of a hospital client of mine that paid for a Radiology Imaging Software System that would burn the xray, CT Scans and MRI's to a disk for their doctors. This was as opposed to printing copies and sending them off to the docs via snail mail. The system cost $60,000 in capital budget dollars and it never got used. The system worked fine but they did not examine the whole work stream for this great product that did what was billed and found out it was too complex for the doctors offices computers and workstations to handle. <br/><br/>They never did a test to see if the doctors could read the disks at their computers in their offices. Was not the sales rep's fault it was the buyer of the software system.<br/><br/>But then again, there is probably some great software that has been created but due to poor salesmanship and marketing the end customer never got to realize the great value it would bring. Every product needs to be sold and sold professionally with integrity. I agree with David, they buyers should have had a very good idea of the of what his/her functional requirements and results he/she was looking for from the software before they even entertained a salesperson to show their wares. Unfortunately, many businesses big and small do not work that way and that is why they invest huge dollars in software that they never use effectly or even worse do not use it at all.

Reminds me of a hospital client of mine that paid for a Radiology Imaging Software System that would burn the xray, CT Scans and MRI’s to a disk for their doctors. This was as opposed to printing copies and sending them off to the docs via snail mail. The system cost $60,000 in capital budget dollars and it never got used. The system worked fine but they did not examine the whole work stream for this great product that did what was billed and found out it was too complex for the doctors offices computers and workstations to handle.

They never did a test to see if the doctors could read the disks at their computers in their offices. Was not the sales rep’s fault it was the buyer of the software system.

But then again, there is probably some great software that has been created but due to poor salesmanship and marketing the end customer never got to realize the great value it would bring. Every product needs to be sold and sold professionally with integrity.

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]]> By: Anonymous http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3807 Anonymous Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:32:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3807 There are a lot of BS artists at work in the lean and continuous improvement fields these days. I've met some of them recently. This software salesman is definitely part of a larger group that seems to be expanding, much to the detriment of lean enterprise evolution and those of us "in the trenches" trying to do this for real. There are a lot of BS artists at work in the lean and continuous improvement fields these days. I’ve met some of them recently. This software salesman is definitely part of a larger group that seems to be expanding, much to the detriment of lean enterprise evolution and those of us “in the trenches” trying to do this for real.

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]]> By: David http://www.leanblog.org/2008/07/software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3804 David Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:05:00 +0000 http://leanblog.bigbigdesign.net/2008/07/a-software-salesperson-being-honest/#comment-3804 "Does this speak more poorly about the salesman or the buyer?"...well, it speaks very poorly for the buyers, if these executives indeed made the software decisions without properly involving their own manufacturing people and other functional experts. And if they *had* involved their own experts, I'd think that any lack of real knowledge on the part of the salesman would have become quickly apparent.<br/><br/>Also, software companies usually have overlay sales support organizations, such that if the prospect is looking for, say, a shop scheduling system for the aerospace industry, the salesman can bring along a shop scheduling expert and/or an aerospace expert. I wonder if this structure existed at Kuta's company. “Does this speak more poorly about the salesman or the buyer?”…well, it speaks very poorly for the buyers, if these executives indeed made the software decisions without properly involving their own manufacturing people and other functional experts. And if they *had* involved their own experts, I’d think that any lack of real knowledge on the part of the salesman would have become quickly apparent.

Also, software companies usually have overlay sales support organizations, such that if the prospect is looking for, say, a shop scheduling system for the aerospace industry, the salesman can bring along a shop scheduling expert and/or an aerospace expert. I wonder if this structure existed at Kuta’s company.

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