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About six month’s ago I lost a sale to a client. He was an existing user of Great Plains, but rather than upgrade to the newer version and Microsoft SQL server, he chose another software solutions.
Yesterday and today, I spent quite a bit of time exporting the data out so his new software vendor could import it into the new system. Although this is billable time and billable hours are always appreciated, I felt somewhat like a chump. It felt a little bit like I was contributing to my own demise.
In brief discussions with my contact at the client site I now know why I lost the sale to this competitor. My client is a small privately held firm. He’s not terribly big. He does about $16 million a year.
The owner happens to be Jewish. The owners of my competitor are ALSO Jewish. In conversations related to me by my contact, I am now quite certain the client chose this company because they are Jewish.
I just wish I had an inkling of this up front. I might have either saved myself some time or been able to make a different argument.
Posted by Ted at April 5, 2004 6:58 PM