I was on my way to meet with one of my most important software partners today when a question occurred to me. Am I a smart customer? So I asked them that if they were one of their customers for day, what would they do differently (other than just placing a massive order with themselves, of course.)? Their response:
Before doing a deal
1. share the big picture - issues and opportunities - don't just focus on 'ticking the box' for a particular problem
2. do keep some distance to get the right deal
After the deal
1. Plan ahead
2. Put more effort in up front - it's a lot easier to get things right at this stage than later on
3. 'Trust us'. My summary of what they said is that your issues and opportunities might seem unique to you but if that means you are all over your supplier you might be crowding them out. They are probably smart people who want to do a good job - let them get on with it. It will be pretty obvious if they are just trying to flog you something you don't need.
I asked them which of their customers got most value out of them (excluding us), and they came up with a couple of examples - one in the UK and one in the middle east. They felt that both of these got the most bang for their buck by being smart customers. It made me think that most software comapnies must have a view on which are their smart customers that get good value, and which are their dumb ones that get fleeced. Here's hoping I'm not in the second category with anyone.
