Speed Dating with Software Vendors

I remember dating, long ago. It was exciting to meet someone new, and often a lot of over-preparation leading up to it. Mostly it was fun to just get a date in my case. Most dates turned out differently than I expected, ranging from pleasantly surprised to simply disastrous.

One thing for sure - first impressions are critical.

With over 40 software reviews over the past several months now behind me, I have come to appreciate the value of software demonstrations. The vendor has their first chance to impress, and its importance to understanding the product cannot be trivialized. My context has been as a consultant to my nonprofit clients, as a researcher for reports and as a consumer myself.

While my dates with most demonstrations left me smiling, and in some cases wanting more, some left me feeling bitter, degraded, even used. You might be surprised at some of the bad tactics some software vendors use:

1. Interrupting the question: Several times I would ask something like "could you show me how to email...", with the vendor suddenly breaking in to show me some random html email template tool rather than "...gift acknowledgments in batch in response to all my new donations." Gee, thanks but no thanks.
2. Giving irrelevant answers: Its infuriating to ask a question, only to get a completely irrelevant response. The answer often starts with, "First Eric, I would like to show you X", and then never leads back to the question. How patronizing! They might as well say, "Oh Eric, that's a stupid question now, isn't it? I'll show you X instead."
3. Yelling: In some cases, I would continue to ask a question after being interrupted. Some vendors simply could not allow for a question to be fully stated, insisting on raising their voices or yelling their response, I guess in hopes of convincing me of how powerful they are.
   
4. The Venomous No: Amazing as it sounds, some software does not satisfy every requirement I have. Instead of giving a nice, clean "No", I sometimes got instead: "No, we can't satisfy every little detail." Generally, the "little detail", "edge case" or "minor feature" as they put it actually matter to me, go figure. One vendor actually told me "No, and I do not see why that would be important for anyone."
   
5. Disrespecting the schedule: Some vendors would schedule and reschedule meetings without apology, and would continue to talk well beyond the end point. "Just one more quick minute..." would end up being a 10 minute monologue on something, and my attempts to intervene often could not stop it.

Basic listening and communication skills are so important. Some demonstrations of quite advanced software ran so well, I got more out of those in 30 minutes than in over 2 hours with other comparable systems. Its important to not let the demo experience be a roadblock to discovering otherwise great software. On the other hand, it is not unreasonable to assume back demo behavior may be indicative of bad service generally.

For my part, I learned to be a better demo consumer. Come prepared with very clear questions. Its important to have clear criteria defined in advance so as to not be unduly influenced by the unusually good or bad presentation you may receive. Provide them up in advance to the vendor whenever possible. Allow the vendor to fully explain their answer - it often answers several other questions. Set expectations at the beginning. Make sure to confirm the demo system works before the call. Allow plenty of follow-up time for notes and questions.