I got a trouble ticket the other day, requesting I send something off to person X instead of person Y. Fairly normal type stuff, yes?
It turned out that the underlying request was to provide a key that enabled a software feature for a customer deal. Still fairly normal stuff, yes?
The customer in this case was a well-known consumer brand company using my company’s software. They had a subscription for a few tens of thousands of US dollars per year for maintenance and support. Fairly normal low volume low level sale, right?
Well, actually, no. The key I was to provide was for one more unit of software. One. Total revenue for the deal was a couple hundred dollars. Due to some technical issues, to create the new key required manual intervention by no less than five people, cancellation of an old key, replacement of the old with the new, and a communication with the customer. I’m pretty sure we lost money on the deal when all was said and done.
An enterprise sales executive sold a one unit deal. WTF were they thinking? Apparently, that person thought they’d help us lose money.
The whole loss-leader approach to business by too many people is one reason (there are so many reasons) my company will end up on the auction block, which totally pisses me off. Never thought I’d have to teach a sales person how and when to sell.
They’re fired.
And I’d fire the customer. If a multi-billion dollar consumer company can’t afford to increase their usage by more than a few hundred dollars a year, they’re not seriously using our software, and we should stop spending any time at all with them. Or at least, with that group inside that company.
Coffee and Fury 