[wtracy]

An amazing number of people make purchasing decisions without seeking advice from existing customers. There are industries where businesses almost never compare notes with each other. (Independent restaurants come to mind. Really, any field with a high rate of turnover.)

Also, the sunk cost fallacy means that some organizations will continue shoveling money at the bad system they already purchased because of the shiny marketing. If you're prepared to sell "upgrades" and consulting services around your product, it's sometimes possible to make more money from a bad product than one that "just works".

I'm not cynical enough to say that the situations I described are normal. But they are common enough.