| >"Apparently, the $5k minimum order was too small for them to care (at least that's what my side says)." I find this to be pretty typical behavior when representing Government to vendors. It doesn't impress me as being dismissive so much as indirect sales pressure. A vendor knows that the typical Government agency can and does regularly piss away 10-100x that amount on systems that never see the light of day. They're betting that if the initiative has any real support someone will find the funding to make it happen. Problem is, this is probably worst possible tactic to take with someone in your position who is trying to enact change without substantial/any budget to command. The people on your end are happy to walk away, they've already done it twice and they were surely just looking for a reason to do it a third time. Word to salespeople working with Government: When you're dealing with a lone "champion" inside some organization you should be thinking in terms of cheaply seeding for the future and having friendly eyes and ears inside - not booking a sale this quarter. Also, as the OP points out, you're going to be dealing with entirely segregated procurement departments who are likely out of their comfort zone to be handling the task at all - not the sort you should be at all impatient, demanding or upselling with. Now, to be fair I should point out that I think there are some valid reasons for vendors to avoid small deals. The main thing is perception. The naysayers are going to attack any new installation the moment it hits the floor. If a minimal install isn't defensible against a hostile environment like that seeing it fail will kill any potential future business for the vendor. A simple way to mitigate this is sign an agency up and leave them fully-featured and uncapped - no friction to grow the product internally. Then, this is important, resist the urge to demand a huge true-up once things have taken root, just ramp up gradually and understand that the social proof of your having your product fully-established in one such agency will open the door to sales elsewhere. |