Short story about a potential client that reached out to me three weeks ago.....I've been tracking this account for the last 4 years and was told on several calls that, "we hate our current vendor".
I was able to provide them with competitive pricing, references and met their needs for scan2cloud options. We spoke again last week and went into detail about the scan2cloud and was told they would get back to me. Today I had a call they decided to stay with their current vendor, I'll admit I was somewhat taken back. When I pressured the client why we lost, it was stated "because you both had the same price, however their print speeds were twice as fast yours, so the boss said to stay with our current vendor".
What? I quoted two devices, one at 60ppm color and one at 50ppm black. I'm familiar with the brand that the incumbent sells and I questioned the comment of "twice as fast for the same cost". This means you purchased a 120 page per minute color and 100 page a minute black device? The response was classic, "I'm sorry we already signed the order".
I went back and checked by quotes because just maybe I missed something in my proposal? I did not miss the quoting the print speeds, in fact I had them highlighted for each device. Later in the day I sent a thank you email and alerted them to the fact the paper work is not a done deal until the devices are delivered.
I've got a funny feeling about this one and believe the sales person may have overstated something in order to win the deal. However, what I still can't get over are the comments through the last couple of years about how much she hates her vendor.
Thoughts?