Work: April 2005 Archives

$CUST_CONTACT just called and gave me the news. They are asking for a couple of changes to the contract, but if $COMPETITION has no big problem with this then it should get signed by Monday. The deliverability proofs of concept that took place on Monday and Tuesday produced identical results. Here is why $HI_PROFILE_CLIENT won the business.

1. $COMPETITION provided API documents that allow $HI_PROFILE_CLIENT to sync up with their own database. This eliminates the need for manual daily uploads.
2. $COMPETITION has $FUNCTIONALITY that not even $PRODUCT_THAT_WAS_SUPPOSED__TO_BE_RELEASED_IN_MARCH can match. It is very graphical, it provides a way to deliver all the reports at a single click rather than stitching spreadsheets together (something to note when dealing with $ANOTHER_CUST), and it gives different reporting rights to up to 100 people.
3. $COMPETITION dropped their pants big time. They were asking for $2500 per month. Eventually it went down to $1500, and $CUST_CONTACT was still going to go with us. Then they finally settled on $1000. Annual contract.

$COMPETITION and $MYCOMPANY were the only ones that were willing to give a free trial. $CUST_CONTACT did like us quite a bit, and $HI_PROFILE_CLIENT was prepared to give us the business despite not having points one and two. Unfortunately, their New York people are really excited to get started with something that does what they need doing. In the end, even though I tried to offset our lack of functionality with allowing them to $DO_SOMETHING_ELSE_FAIRLY_COOL, $COMPETITION offset the price advantage by a 60% reduction in price.

#CUST_CONTACT wants to be added to any $PRODUCT_THAT_WAS_SUPPOSED__TO_BE_RELEASED_IN_MARCH mailing list. I think that if we had that product, we’d probably have their business.

You can have your cheesy music in the office. You can even whistle a couple of bars. But you cannot, under any circumstances, whistle the whole song loudly and OFF FUCKING KEY.

Tuesday's POC resulted in a tie. It went to the CFO and he is now deciding which company to go for. If he likes functionality, then we lose. If he likes cost, then we win. There was an issue on Tuesday with the asshole IT guy requiring certain customizations, but I was able to turn this to my advantage. I can allow for their customizations, add functionality, waive the customization fee and increase my value. (Yes, I do know how that reads, but I'm in the industry, okay? It's all about perception.)

Since this is going to the CFO, this could look good for me if he is purely a money guy with little sense of functionality costs. The contract expires at 6 pm tomorrow night. This will likely come right down to the wire.

In one hour, the fate of my job hangs in the balance. One of the two big deals that will save me (technically, I need both to close this week) closes tomorrow. In one hour, there will be no more selling. It's Proof of Concept time.

Essentially, they are going to test the product, and if it performs better than the competitor's product, then I win. If not, I lose. There's nothing more I can do at that point.

I'm rather proud of myself for even getting this far considering what I had to do to get to this point (that's another post). I should know by tomorrow morning whether or not it's going to happen.

My boss assigned homework for us to be completed by next Monday. This could mean that it seems as though I will still have a job, regardless. In the sales meeting yesterday, I appear to be #2 out of the lot of us, which is pathetic. Especially pathetic since the #1 guy has more sales than the other five combined. (Of course, it helps that he got one gigantic deal.)

Well, wish me luck.

In sales, sooner or later, someone gets put on The Plan.

When a salesperson gets put on The Plan, it means that they have not been performing well enough for a certain period of time. Not well enough could mean 29% of quota, or it could mean 99% of quota. It depends on the sales manager and the organization. After enough time under quota, that person gets put on The Plan which states that the salesperson has a certain amount of time to make his numbers, or he's fired. Last quarter was the worst I have ever had, anywhere. I have never been put on The Plan until today. It would have been the perfect ending to a perfectly shitty week last week.

I had been wanting to buy something for a while now, and since I couldn't buy the laptop that I wanted, I decided to settle on a camera. You can get something pretty decent for $300 these days. In February, I saw an interesting deal: a Canon Powershot A75 with a camera printer for $450. Last Tuesday I saw it for $400, and I was actually able to negotiate it down to $350. Damn good deal. I felt so good about it that I also bought The Incredibles, too.