This phrase was derived from the advertising of consumer goods where customers are lured in the door with a great deal, only to find out it wasn’t that great after all.  Can this happen when selling market research fieldwork services?  When buying professional services, we often don’t consider what is really at stake for our sales reps.  They are under enormous pressure to hit quotas, earn commission, bring in new business and keep their jobs.  With those pressures mounting it’s conceivable an eager account executive might make certain promises that are hard to deliver on.  On a sales call you might hear things like “we can get that done faster”, “you’ll work with our best project manager”, “our team is proactive”, or “we deliver fully qc’d links every time”.  When that first sale is awarded, you can guarantee that the vendors will work hard and staff that project with their best programmer and project manager to come through on those promises.  But what happens to that incredible experience as time elapses and other new clients are sold and larger clients demand their best resources?  Have you experienced a quality drop off that left you wondering if you just received the bait and switch?  Here are some ways that you may be able to prevent this from happening again:

Go to the Source:  by learning more about the operations staff and the organizational structure you’ll be in a better position to predict future outcomes.  I recommend asking to speak with the operations and programming managers to sniff out any sales embellishments and vet the folks ultimately responsible for delivery.  Things you can ask:

How are pm’s/programmers assigned to projects or accounts?

What are the different titles across the team and/or mix of jr. and sr. level?

How many projects did the entire team run last year?

How many projects do PM or programmers typically manage at a time?

How does the escalation process work?

Do you have an example of a recent issue and how it was resolved?

Trust the experts:  I’m sure you love your sales rep, primarily because he or she brings in lunch or buys drinks at happy hour, but it’s equally important you have a great rapport and trust the individuals responsible for delivery.  When dealing with a boutique firm, like Owl Solutions, you’ll always be working directly with industry experts and never jr. staff or middlemen.  You’ll find that experts offer more constructive feedback, better anticipate challenges and manage projects with greater urgency.  For programming, this means there’s not a rush to program without an intense review of the survey to catch mistakes and offer suggestions that can improve performance.  Trust an expert to deliver better quality, create time and process efficiencies, and reduce your stress.      

Believe in the system:  While I believe people are a company’s best asset, when working with a larger firm it might make more sense to consider choosing process over people.  Having a few stand outs on a team is great but it’s hard to win unless all the players work together to execute the game plan.  You can expect better service when you see that a team is well coached; all the players know what they need to do and how to do it.

Build your team: I advocate for having your vendor assign at least 2 PM’s or programmers to your account.  This will ensure continuity as they both will know the work you do and any personal needs or preferences you may have.  It’s also key that they become virtually interchangeable.  Remember the last time your project manager went on vacation and you were randomly assigned a backup?

Some clients will still only want to work with the stand outs.  A challenge here is that most high revenue clients are already assigned the best staff resources.  Luckily businesses are thirsting for growth clients to add into portfolios so here’s what I suggest:

Be transparent: tell your vendor your project volume and devise a growth strategy based on achieving key performance metrics.  Because managers will now be monitoring these metrics over time they are inclined to permanently assign a trusted stand out to your account.  Make your future business contingent on working with the staff you feel is best for your business. 

Identify your “ideal” PM or programmer:  Aside from obvious competencies I’ve found that stylistic and personality nuances can be just as important.  There could be two types of stand outs at one company:

a) prefers phone calls vs. emails, has great energy/very personable, good problem solver, but might be slower to reply

b) prefers short curt emails, has a more systematic approach, but has fast response times 

You may already know what works best for you so let your vendor know your preference.  If you are relationship focused and ok waiting a bit for a reply, look for the a’s; if you just focus on the results and you don’t need the warm and fuzzy look for the b’s.  Now there are those few unicorns out there that are a perfect blend.  If one is assigned to your account, consider yourself lucky and feel confident to give that vendor more work.

Like any personal relationship there should be a “dating period” before things get serious.  While there are sales people out there that genuinely care about your business, and I am fortunate to know a handful of them, others might tell you what you want to hear to bring you in the door.  To prevent a bait and switch talk to the butcher to learn how the sausage is really made, not the sales clerk.  When you learn a vendor’s operational structure and processes you’ll know if there’s long term potential for a partnership.  Take control and find your experts or work at building a team that can best support your needs.