RE: Oracle Sales Rep - who deals with them in your Org
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:46:07 +0000
Message-ID: <CO1PR19MB49849202B5C88C95D047A3339B909_at_CO1PR19MB4984.namprd19.prod.outlook.com>
OK - I kinda feel like I have to wade in here, Full disclosure - I'm a PreSales Engineer for Quest Software (among other things, we sell TOAD, Foglight and SharePlex). Prior to that, in another life, I was a DBA and DBA Manager for several large and small companies in the Seattle area.
At the end of the day, Oracle is not a charitable organization and the people in their Sales organization, like the rest of us, need to earn a living.
Sales, and on the customer side, purchasing, should NOT be considered a "zero sum" game; and, in my experience, most good sales and purchasing people realize this. Of course, there are always "new kids", or, as the Navy saying goes, "People who want to make (or be) Admiral on their first watch". In my experience, these folks either respond to coaching or self-destruct fairly quickly.
I can definitely understand and support Jeff's desire to be the "first line" of contact for any sales communications, and definitely agree with Nenad's conclusion that management support for that signals trust, and a "healthy" organization.
My suggestion would to quietly take the offending sales person aside and explain to them that if they talk to you FIRST, you can actually assist them in communicating whatever message to the "higher authority" (assuming of course, they can convince you it's worthwhile) and that "going around" you can actually be detrimental to their cause. In other words, help them understand that they can trust you.
Hope this helps! Good luck!
Clay Jackson
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> On Behalf Of Noveljic Nenad
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2021 12:53 AM
To: ORACLE-L (oracle-l_at_freelists.org) <oracle-l_at_freelists.org>
Subject: RE: Oracle Sales Rep - who deals with them in your Org
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I would be wary of taking advice from someone who benefits from it. For example, listening to an esthetic surgeon on how to improve the appearance would inevitably result in a high bill, health risks and a funky look.
This is what I witnessed in one of my previous roles - executives making decisions and purchasing products after socializing with sales representatives (IT products, not esthetic surgery). Then, I had to constantly explain why the ideas like performance horizontal scaling with RAC and replacing DBAs with Enterprise Manager - to name just a few - aren't feasible.
In my opinion, Jeff is in a good position. Management reluctance to deal with the vendor signals trust.
As I understood, one of the issues was the irritation caused by unsolicited communication attempts by sales reps to his management chain. I wouldn't worry too much about that. That's a minor problem that the affected people can solve on their own.
Best regards,
Nenad
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org<mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org<mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org>> On Behalf Of Dennis Williams
Sent: Donnerstag, 11. März 2021 02:39
To: backseatdba_at_gmail.com<mailto:backseatdba_at_gmail.com>
Cc: oracle-l-freelist <oracle-l_at_freelists.org<mailto:oracle-l_at_freelists.org>>
Subject: Re: Oracle Sales Rep - who deals with them in your Org
Hello,
I think you are looking at this situation from the wrong end of the telescope, namely the harried DBA end.
Oracle is one of the very largest software vendors on this planet, and sells "solutions" far beyond the database. The job goal of an Oracle sales rep is to locate OTHER needs within the organization that Oracle can satisfy. Generally speaking, (speaking as a fellow DBA), the lowly DBA is scarcely familiar with all the planned activities within the corporation. We are usually far too busy keeping the existing databases going.
A successful sales rep is the one that uses the existing Oracle software contracts as an entry in the corporation to check around and locate those new projects that will ultimately yield a new revenue stream (and accompanying commissions). Now do most corporate VPs wake up in the morning and say "gosh darn, I hope some sales reps call me up for a good chat about our needs and how their company can meet those requirements." And that is why I didn't choose a career in sales, and nothing has told me that I made a mistake :-)
Dennis Williams
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