Conference ulysse::rdb_vms_competition

422.0. ""How To Choose Your Database Vendor"" by SRFSUP::LANGSTON (eclectic soul) Fri Sep 08 1989 19:41

    We're in a competitive situation trying to sell Rdb/RALLY/TEAMDATA
    to a customer in Glendale, California.  They are a VAX shop and
    are using UserWare International's USERBASE.
    
    They are displeased with the performance they're getting from
    UserWare's product and are considering RDBMSes.
    
    The Application Development manager and System Manager are essentially
    ready to go with Rdb, but the MIS Director is getting cold feet,
    I think because he's nervous about justifying the purchase/conversion
    to his boss, the CFO.
    
    So, our Program Manager, who has announced his resignation, has
    suggested, as (I think *he* thinks) a parting favor to the "sales
    team" and the customer, that we provide a "How To Choose Your Database 
    Vendor" sort of competitive worksheet.
    
    As I understand the way they imagine this "worksheet," it will be
    in matrix form, with features/questions down the left and vendor names 
    across the top.  The customer determines which of the features each
    vendor can provide, and the vendor with the most checkmarks in its
    column wins!
    
    I guess it's sort of like getting in on the "writing the proposal"
    stage of a bid process.  This customer can be naive, but I don't
    think it is so much so, that they don't realize that we would slant
    the survey to favor our product. (Of course, we all know that Rdb
    is the best relational database product on the VAX.)

    "This may be a good sales tool," I'm thinking, "if it is done without
    being too blatantly pro-Rdb."
    
    Comments?

    The difficulty with compiling such a worksheet is that you will
    be placing the customer in a situation where he will choosing a
    database based on quantitive methods, rather than qualitative ones.
    
    This approach may work, however, you should remember that not all
    of our competitors play totally fair, i.e. with yes/no questions
    it would be easy for them to say yes to a point where they only
    had limited functionality, or puting the feature in their proverbial
    next release.
    
    If you are forced to provide such a worksheet, I would suggest making
    sure that all the products compared were currently available with
    a minimum number of sites installed in your part of the world, e.g.
    20-30 sites with similar sized databases.  Also, it would be important
    to make sure that all database suppliers polled, supply letters
    stating that the information provided in the worksheet was true
    and correct.
    
    Furthermore, in my experience where we have had to answer such point
    questions in tenders, etc., we have not done as well as in situations
    where we can do a quality sell on a face to face basis.  Sure, it
    makes the customer's life easier to add up the number of boxes ticked
    and to choose a supplier based on the highest score, but this way
    the customer often does not get the best solution, but one which
    most closely fits their hypothetical scenario.
    
    Also, if you do have to provide a worksheet, make sure that one
    of the points is the 5 year cost of ownership on the chosen hardware,
    this usually gives us a good lead.
    
    Good Luck,
    Michael