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Working for a manufacturing company this is of my biggest pet peeves. Our Salesforce (and customers) insist that they _would/could_ sell (or buy) our product if only it had feature x. In my experience, most of those people aren’t really interested to sell (or buy) the product regardless of feature set.

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Contingent Purchase Order : You put in a purchase order and we'll build feature x.

Separate the wheat from the chaff.

Are you going to build it instantly?

If not, what happens if someone else releases a superior product in the interim? Or my business needs change?

> If not, what happens if someone else releases a superior product in the interim?

They'll get your business.

> Or my business needs change?

I didn't waste my time building you a feature you won't pay for.

Both excellent questions. Oddly the tire kicker never says "If you build X then I'll buy it .. unless my needs change or someone else releases a superior product". Requesting a purchase order casts the situation in the cold light of day.

I think this is how a lot of enterprise software is sold. Potential customer says "it's missing x", sales person says "we'll build x in two weeks", product is sold, devs have to figure out how to build x in two weeks.

That probably doesn't work for physical products.

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