Partnering With the CIO: The Future of IT Sales Seen Through the Eyes of Key Decision Makers

Keep Your Promises

Like all other consumers, CIOs suffer buyer’s remorse. Before the ink on the contract is dry, they begin wondering if they made the right choice. They begin worrying about whether you will deliver on your promises.

Their greatest fear is that after the deal is done and the sale is completed, your product will not perform as advertised. Yes, they’ve got your obligations written into the contract eight ways from Sunday. But all those legal niceties don’t matter to the CIO. After the contract is signed, all the CIO really cares about it is this: Will it work?

We’re not making this up. This is a fact that you need to know, whether you’re part of the account team or a consultant. A key question rolling through the mind of every CIO is: What happens after the sale?

So if you believe that delivery is someone else’s problem, we’re here to tell you that the CIO believes differently. The CIO believes that it’s your problem.

A survey conducted by CIO magazine in 2006 shows that of the 10 vendor attributes considered most important by CIOs, the ability to deliver on promises ranks number one. (See Figure 3.1.)

Figure 3.1. This survey shows clearly which vendor attributes are considered crucial by CIOs and where vendors are falling short.

Source: Adapted from CIO magazine research project, “The Role and Influence of the 21st Century CIO.”

“96 percent of respondents chose ...