Simplify, Simplify!! - Dell IdeaStorm

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Simplify, Simplify!!

930 points posted to Sales Strategies, Simplify IT by beefman 02/23/07 **PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED**

Purchasing from Dell at present is immensely confusing. From home buyers to corporate purchases, simply purchasing a computer is a struggle when one is trying to achieve the best value. In the drive to serve every segment of the market, Dell has become balkanized and fragmented.

Dell made their name on ease of transaction and simplicity. Now, Dell's pricing structure is so complex it makes airline fares look simple! Then, when it comes time to order, finding the right person to speak to can be a chore as well. I have been able to make much better deals when talking to a sales rep than when ordering online. Why? Dell should be driving customers to the lowest cost method of order acceptance and making that process as easy and painless as possible.

The multilayered, multitiered pricing structure has to be the first thing to go. Get rid of the thousands of discount codes that are handed out on a by the minute basis. Make pricing simple, repeatable and logical. Discount by customer on an account basis. Why should you be extending discounts and rewarding a bottom-feeder who only waits for below-cost red-ink loss leaders and never buys otherwise? Reward good customers, and set pricing such that even without a discount, Dell products are an excellent value. All the segmentation DOES NOT result in better service to customers and only adds cost.

On that note: DON'T hand off accounts. My biggest frustration with Dell was building a relationship and then being handed off to someone else to work with. It seemed that this was done on a regular basis to stimulate business. Not smart. I have had the same rep at CDW for 8 years. They're my primary vendor and I won't go anywhere else. If they sold Dell, I'd buy it there. Why? My sales rep and the quality of service.

You NEVER want customers having buyers remorse or thinking they could've got a better deal. The sales/pricing structure in place pretty much assures that, in addition to making the purchase process more difficult than it should be. Sweep it away, get back to roots of offering rock solid leading edge technology at a rock bottom price.

We’re making every effort to simplify the purchase process for Dell products and services. The recent launch of Dell ProSupport was driven by feedback from customers like you, and it’s an important step in the right direction.

rbleile 02/24/07	ditto, don't know if I could have worded it so well
jgreig 02/28/07	There is a lot of seasoned wisdom in this post. Dell Premier is STILL too difficult to use. You NEVER get best pricing until you beat up on your AE.
thiruplus 03/07/07	It is too complex to convince the other person without seeing his face. Customer can be more comfortable, if he sits with Sales agent.
hltiger74 06/20/07	I agree. I have had the same CDW rep for 10 years. I have been through 5 different sales teams in that time.
haxo 06/30/07	I agree. I use the French Dell site. Depending on the configuration base you select, you can have many different prices for the same final customised configuration. Also, I'd be glad to have a high spec base configuration without display. My LCD is very good but my PC ageing. I just want to replace the PC with a nice Core 2 Duo + 2 GB RAM + Vista Premium (and possibly Ubuntu on a second boot).
msdestynie 09/25/07	Cheers Beefman and everyone else who posted! Since Day 1 with having a premier account, I have had problems with my rep. The first one was awful. So bad that I wound up having to get a hold of his supervisor (even though the information was not readily available, like I think it should be - as a note, my current rep does have his manager's email address at the bottom of his email signature). I explained my situation to his supervisor and requested a new rep or I was going elsewhere to spend my money. I had to wait 2 weeks to get a new rep, but things improved then because I ABSOLUTELY LOVED my new rep. I trusted him, he gave me awesome prices w/o me having to beg, he was knowledgeable, he was friendly, and he respected me and my knowledge. But then, I get a phone call from the rep I loved. He called me personally to tell me that I was getting moved to a different premier rep. He had no information as to why I was getting moved. He had no control over it, he said. When I asked if there was anything I could do to prevent this switch, he said he didn't think there was. My new rep is "soso". I don't have a business relationship with him at all. I tried to talk to him on the phone, like I did my other rep, but he blows me off. So I simply send an email when I need something and he sends me a quote. One thing that really bothers me is that I'm not getting the pricing I was getting from my favorite rep. I have to beg this new rep to give me marginal discounts. What's up with that? At least, for the most part, he is good with his response time and his quotes are accurate to what I requested, so he doesn't waste my time. But you know, sometimes you would like to talk to a PERSON and develop a relationship with that person. I can order things online from anywhere, and a lot of the time, it's better pricing than Dell offers. When I had my premier rep that I loved, I ordered way more things from Dell than I do now, because I felt I could call him and he would figure out what I needed, rather than me doing all of the research. Now I do the research and just tell my rep what I want. As far as the premier site goes - over the past 6 months, I have noticed that it is much easier to get around in. It seems like most options are available for the system I want, and I rarely have to have my rep change things around in a quote b/c I couldn't put the correct configuration in on the premier site. It's better, but it still isn't perfect. Also, I don't find I'm getting better pricing using the website. I find the better pricing comes from getting a quote from my rep, even though it still isn't as good as I was getting from the last rep. One other thing that bothers me about the whole Premier program is this: why can't I get our premier discounts on certain lines of desktops/laptops? This is ridiculous when I have spent a considerable amount of money with Dell over the past 3 years, and am planning on spending more. Our workstations cost approx. $4500 and the laptops around $3500. And all of our servers are Dells. Why am I forced to purchase only from the business lines if I want to get my discount? It makes no sense, and all I've been told is that "Dell is pushing business customers to purchase business machines." Um, great. But what if I want to buy an XPS laptop for one of our employees who also wants to use it personally at home or on the road (for gaming), even if it IS a work machine? He can't play the games he wants to with the Quadro video cards. We are good to our employees, and try to accommodate their needs. So for us, it would make sense to purchase an XPS 1710 rather than a Precision M90 for this particular employee. But I don't get the discounts I want on the XPS, so I wind up purchasing the M90, and in the end, I have a disappointed employee. Just my 2 cents worth.
uksp Jan 31	I couldn't agree more on the issue of account manager relationships. We've had various account managers, and didn't really use Dell much until we got a brilliant one by referral from someone else who dealt with her. She was later promoted and we were assigned a new one. We're not on yet another and I was concerned when I had an e-mail which made me think they were thinking of changing this. I like dealing with someone who understands my requirements so well which can only be established through a long relationship. In fact our other suppliers are a reseller for HP so if our account manager changes, it is quite likely I'd be looking to move all our new servers over to HP. I've heard mixed stories of Dell account managers so I think there are some very good ones and others who are typical sales people who don't understand the difference between a sales person and an account manager.
kara_k Feb 1	Changed status to UNDER REVIEW.
zanlok Feb 1	Integrity. That's what this is about. I want Dell to be profitable, but not make it so I have to outsmart all of the crazy configurations and ordering mechanisms and sales reps to locate the "real" cheapest alternative for the hardware I would like to purchase.
zanlok Feb 1	More explanation... my good (former) account manager tended to find a way to price things for me at about 110% of a deal I can find on the web. I didn't mind that so much. With the not-so good ones I've had of late, though, I get quotes closer to 125% of the published deals. Basically, I end up using the website.
cary_g Feb 24	There are some great suggestions in this idea, and we’re making every effort to simplify the purchase process for Dell products and services. The recent launch of Dell ProSupport was driven by feedback from customers like you, and it’s an important step in the right direction. With ProSupport, Dell has distilled more than 10 service offerings down to two customizable packages for commercial customers – with flexible options for service level and proactive management. Now, customers can customize services to fit their technical expertise, and not feel forced to buy more or less than they need. Thanks for the idea, and keep the suggestions coming! Cary Dell ProSupport Global Product Lead
kara_k Feb 25	Changed status to PARTIALLY IMPLEMENTED. Check out our latest Idea in Action!
jervis961 Apr 1

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