10.7 Example: Reference Selling

Another weapon in psychological warfare is the power of reference selling. In this warfare, human weaknesses are preyed upon with positive intent. Suppose one had to sell a $10 million software system (i.e., very expensive). The buying authority for such a product may not even exist entirely within the IT community of the organization; perhaps it resides in the Chair of the Board of Directors. But even more important than influencing the chairman will be justifying the sale to the organization so that the executives have a clear indication of need. It's a lobbying effort on a massive scale because no one individual needs (or can justify) the whole system, but each may benefit in his or her own way from the purchase.

This kind of sales assignment is not as much a primary activity of software architecture as it is for software salespeople. But the need to "sell the system" may be just as great for the architect. And the situation, as it has been posed, is within the scope of the kinds of "organizational sales" that software architects participate in.

The trick for making such a large sale is in the sales pitch. First, multiple points of contact in the organization are needed; ideally they will represent multiple chains of management. Each point of contact must be approached with the intent of achieving two key things. The highest priority is to convince them that they want what is being sold. Then it is important to get them to articulate that need. That information will be used later. Then additional referrals must be distributed to other people in the organization. Success with the first contact will make subsequent contacts easier. A successful sales pitch can be refined with each contact. However, it often takes three to six months to complete business on this scale.

The referrals can be used to lobby additional points of contact in the organization. In the lobbying efforts, the architect must get them on the phone and/or meet with them in person to deliver the pitch. Leaving a voicemail is not good enough. On the second and subsequent contacts, the fact that earlier contacts indicated a "need" for the product can be used to convince the current prospect that it's a growing wave of demand within the organization.

The customer is being told that it's safe for him or her to support this purchase because many other people already do. It's a done deal. It's a fait accompli. This approach is a form of namedropping, with a systematic intent. What's important is that the power of illusion is being used to create and consolidate demand for the product.

This approach is a systematic sales process that is used by some of the world's largest software companies, called reference selling. The software architect should be aware of how this process works, both to resist its influence from the outside (if necessary) and to use the process to build consensus on the inside of the organization (when needed).