Euphemisms Make For Bad Supplier Relations
Ok, I’m not going to write something pithy as a lead up to the topic of this week’s blog post.
I’m going to come right out and say it.
When *exactly* did a “Pilot Agreement” (unnecessary quotes added on purpose) become a euphemism for:
“You’ll go ahead and pay me a bunch of money now…oh and by the way I’ll force you into a purchase contract too.”
Back in MY day (gather around young procurement professionals, The Elder is speaking) a pilot agreement meant just that. A test drive. A trial period.
A chance to look the proposed product in a limited environment. Take it for a spin. Kick the tires. For no cost. And no obligation.
I don’t have to PAY to test drive a car. No, the sales weasels on the car lot know that their odds of selling the car go up a lot if they can get me behind the wheel.
Oh but no, those pesky software companies have found yet another way to make money. You want to test our product? You gotta pay.
I’ve seen quotes for a pilot as much as the egregious amount of $50,000.
Oh sure “we’ll credit that to your purchase.”
No you won’t. Because I won’t pay you a cent to test drive a product you’re trying to sell.
Also, when you drop a full, ten page contract on me for a pilot, I will gleefully use the redline function in my word processing program to delete every single clause that doesn’t apply to a pilot or a test drive or a demo.
Yesterday, I sat across from a supplier who *desperately* wants my company as a client. I’d prepared for the meeting by bleeding a lot of red ink on their proposed pilot agreement. When one of the sales guys saw my copy of the document, he gulped and said “are those your redlines?”
“Yes,” replied, icily. “Why does this pilot agreement look more like a purchase agreement?”
The Sales Weasel gave me a long winded answer.
“Well, understand that I’m just going to delete all of that language.”
“I understand,” he quickly replied. “We can make that work.”
Yes, yes you can.
I’m not as confident we can make your product work. That why we demo it, big guy.
*sigh*
Fear my red ink. I use it without hesitation.
The Procurement Chronicles 
It’s the same with shareware these days. There’s less and less of it, and most of what there is isn’t any good. But a big company ought to be able to try expensive software out before a big purchase order! Talk about expecting faith in their product! Are they afraid you’re going to steal their code?
I follow you on ExposeYourBlog.
Dirty Butter – thanks for the comment! You are right, the availability and quality of shareware and freeware is pretty bad these days.
The software industry is so strange these days. Software companies are trying all kinds of crazy ways to drain more money out of every purchase. It gets frustrating.