Most of our clients are distributors. As  distributors. Over the years, they have learned that they can make as much by “buying right” as they can by selling at the optimum price.

Often clients try to apply this principle to the purchase of software. They will beat on the system salesperson and obtain price concessions.  Often in the process of getting those price concessions, the clients will give up things like training, implementation services, consulting, etc.

This can be a recipe for disaster. Without proper training, many companies often end up using only 20% of the capabilities of the software. They never realize the benefits that they were expecting.

When they finally realize that they really do need training, they end up having to buy the training by the hour. This approach at least helps them use the system more fully, but the client loses complete control over the cost of implementation.  Once they have they system, they are sort of stuck.

When buying software, price is nowhere near as important as the prospective long term relationship. Don’t buy on price alone.