Voice
Communication in Business Volume 1
Essays on telecommunications,
1969-1980
Chapter 12
Those Awful PBX Proposals:
They're Even Worse
Than You Said!
One of
the people who came to the BCR PBX seminar thought my ideas were
pretty good and should be tried. Here is what happened in a genuine
unsolicited testimonial, from the M/A, 1979, BCR.
***
I have recently had an
instructive experience in obtaining bids for a private switch.
Perhaps my tale of woe might be of interest to those about to embark
upon such a project.
Because I have to "live
here," and will undoubtedly be re-analyzing our company's position
in a couple of years with some of the same suppliers, I must remain
anonymous. Let's just say, I live west of the Rocky Mountains.
It all started when the
local Bell operating company made noises about deleting Centrex and
changing to ESSX. This would have increased our equipment costs over
40 percent, so we felt we had to look at alternatives. I began to
read books and attend seminars, including the Business
Communications Review seminar on PBX systems conducted by Lee
Goeller. Lee's articles on "Those Awful PBX Proposals" became one of
my primary guides.
I cannot emphasize too
strongly that I experienced all the frustrations in obtaining
qualified proposals that Lee has talked about in his articles. What
he didn't mention is the number of evasive, incomplete, asinine
answers I was forced to give my bosses when they asked about my
progress. I dislike being the "village idiot" because the so-called
experts have tried to lead me down the primrose path.
I did the usual thing in
visiting with people who owned their systems to verify their
satisfaction. I always got positive answers about the big dollar
savings, better control, and better service, etc., etc., etc. At the
same time, when visiting with their secretaries and office help (and
gently asking the same questions), I received some significant
pauses and evasive answers, so it appeared that some of the users
were not as happy as the bosses thought. This, plus sending in a few
inquiry cards with the resulting inundation of materials, gave me a
feel for what I needed to do.
I prequalified potential
suppliers and contacted them. Those interested were invited to come
in and visit about a proposal. Each interested supplier was
interviewed and offered the opportunity of bidding. The bid
submittal date was, in all instances, set by the bidder. The
importance of the proposal format was repeatedly stressed to permit
an "apple-to-apple" basis of comparison. Additional meetings were
set to ensure interpretations and understanding of each bid. Each
supplier expressed avid interest and signed a letter setting the
proposal submittal date. This letter also outlined, in depth, my
desired format and content, and the details requesting a duplication
of functions and services currently in operation at our company.
The results were
incredible! The following describes the responses of eight different
suppliers.
-
Because of the
excellent comments received from a user, I wrote the
manufacturer and requested information. I received no reply.
-
This supplier was
very interested in bidding and signed the bid letter. I never
heard from him again.
-
Shortly before the
bid due date, this supplier requested an extension. He stated he
had to send East for engineering. The extension time requested
was too long, so the request was denied.
-
This supplier
submitted a bid, but the documentation and information were so
inadequate that the bid was not seriously analyzed.
-
Subsequent to
signing the bid letter, this supplier requested we join him in
applying to the state PUC to get a reduced tariff on DID trunks.
They stated that unless we did this, and the reduced tariff was
approved, "it would be an exercise in futility for us to quote
you."
-
This supplier signed
the bid letter, but subsequently requested a one-month
extension, which was granted. No proposal was ever received.
-
Only one private
supplier submitted a proposal which could halfway qualify when
compared to the requested format.
-
Telco: Both on
Centrex and Dimension, I received the usual prompt reply with
the expected inundation of information and documentation.
It was impossible to
adequately compare the private and telco bids, but conscience
dictated that I try to qualify at least one private bidder. I
therefore analyzed one private bid (number 7 above) as to equipment,
etc., and gave the telco a set of specifications on which to quote.
This they reluctantly did, complaining all the time that it was
inadequate service. Upon receipt of the additional information, I
proceeded to compare.
Printing costs are too
high to dedicate the space needed to detail the project. Let me
simply say that I wanted to compare "apples-to-apples" and, by much
additional information massaging, I ended up comparing
"oranges-to-oranges."
The one bid that was
analyzed had many significant differences from our specification:
the electronic and instrumentation configuration was entirely
different than we requested, and the financial data looked like
Swiss cheese when analyzed by my financial people. To quote Lee:
"When you know what to look for, you become painfully aware of what
you don't see."
I could go on and on
about the frustrations, wasted time, inadequate information and all
the rest. In the end, we decided to stay with our existing Centrex
for a couple more years. Having had this experience, I can state:
-
It was indeed
educational.
-
I do not look
forward to repeating this project in two or three years.
-
Were I to fault Lee
Goeller's writing and statements about the problems and
frustration of obtaining PBX proposals, it would be that they
actually understate the difficulty.
I have been there, and
it's no fun!
A
Satisfied Customer
***
In the
course of my travels, I ran into a talented young salesman for one
of the better interconnect companies. He congratulated me on the
proposal articles, but I could see that he was concerned about
something. "Well," he said, when I pressed him, "I think you have
the right idea, and I try to make proposals the way you say . . but
I never had any trouble selling PBXs with the proposals I used to
use!" If the emptors won't caveat, there doesn't seem to be much
point in trying to custodiet the custodes.
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