Roy Hinds

Sussex

IT Sales

Having been an IT sales professional for over 15 years, I feel compelled to say increasingly the market gets what it deserves.

The degree of intelligent questioning from the average customer has fallen dramatically over the last 10 years, so quite frankly the sales person who gets way with the scripted smoke and mirrors approach deserves to get way with it, simply because the customer has increasingly allowed them to do so.

A quote from the economist in 1978 puts it quite well

"One educated guess is that upwards of half the computer users in the world are discontented; but that three-quarters of those have only themselves to blame."

It concerns me when I am not asked challenging questions by a companies IT department, it's a sure sign that they also are likely to be clueless as to the actual requirements of the business users.

Most professional sales people would happily see the cowboys driven out of town, however the customers sign the purchase orders that fund the commission cheques.

The fault is both sides of the table.