Difficult to Say Negative Things
Written by Roman on January 21, 2008 – 5:27 pm
We have a potential customer whom we first contacted one year ago. At that time they got demo of our product, and we agreed to talk in a week to see if they’re interesting in purchasing. After that they started to keep postponing things. They normally asked to call one week later, or they were busy with some other issues, or their general manager was not available, and so on.
Couple weeks ago we called them again asking for meeting to show them the latest version. On the demo meeting they finally asked if we still had the same bugs as before – and finally I understood that the reason of endless postponing last year was the fact that they had found some problems in the software they couldn’t accept.
My partner then also confirmed that this behavior is typical for the Middle East – people avoid saying negative things. There are of course enough people who have no problems to reject your proposal and explain the reason, but it is very useful to learn that if your potential customer keeps things delayed, it is probably because there is a reason, and probably that reason is in your product.
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February 3rd, 2008 at 10:32 pm
Dear Mr. Konovalov,
I am a senior writer for e-zone, a Hong Kong-based weekly IT journal and in the course of preparing a report on Middle-East IT market, I happen to stumble upon your blog in my Google search. It would be a great help if you would be able to comment on different aspects of the software market in the Middle East with your first-hand experience in operating precisely such a business from Dubai.
My questions of interest as follow:
1. How large is the Middle East enterprise and personal software market in terms of monetary value ?
2. What are the most pressing software needs of Middle-East customers? Any foreign firms active in meeting their needs
3. What are the pros and cons for investors from abroad to involve in the Middle-East market?
4. Have you met any major challenges in operating your software business in Dubai?
5. Is there any regional variation in software interest throught the whole Middle-East?
6. Is there any piracy or copyright violation problem in Middle East?
It would be most grateful if you would be able to share with us your insight at any time on or before 6th. I am looking forward to hearing from you soon. For more information on the magazine, you may write to Moses Leung, editor of E-Zone, at mosesleung@hket.com.
Regards,
Edward Leung
Writer for E-zone
tel: 852 6259 4759