There is risk associated with anything new. As consumers, we tend to repeat purchasing from vendors who deliver sufficiently on their goods, expected capabilities, and associated promises.
Why take the risk of trying another vendor?
It is only when we have a bad experience that we consider changing (and many people still won’t change – it’s the hell that they know!).
A similar situation exists in business with software purchases. If you have had a good experience with one vendor, you’ll preferentially return to that vendor for other offerings or more licenses (upsell and expansion), because the perceived risk is lower. This is true even if a competitor’s offering appears to be “better.”
Example? For a period of about 1000 years (plus or minus a few), there was a famous expression, “No one ever got fired for buying IBM…” It is much less risky to stay with the current, well-characterized vendor and their products than to move to a new, unknown provider.
Returning to our mountain climbing analogy, why would you engage a new, untested expedition company when you know and are comfortable with how your current guide-company performs? Why take the risk?
As the incumbent vendor, you can take advantage of this risk by calling it out, when appropriate. If your customer begins to explore alternative vendors, gently (but firmly) remind them that you are a known quantity, whereas other vendors represent significant, unquantified risks!
Resources:
Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4
Doing Discovery
https://www.amazon.com/Doing-Discovery-Important-Enablement-Processes/dp/B0B8RJK4C2/
No comments:
Post a Comment