Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

Almost everyone I speak to, detests dealing with cellular providers. And for good reasons. However, there is also a psychological reason that this is a tough market to navigate.

Choice overload or Overchoice is actually a very real phenomenon. It is a cognitive impairment that occurs during a decision-making process when we are presented with too many options we cannot easily choose between. Our ability to make a good decision is reduced by the overload of choices, as is our satisfaction with the final decision. And it is something I come across regularly. 

Well actually, the world of IoT connectivity is not as simple as you think it is... and that's the problem! You are likely basing your expectations and opinions upon a fairly limited or one-sided  understanding about the connectivity landscape. 

Depending upon your profession, you are probably aware of only the very pinnacle of the complexity that goes into creating and maintaining any kind of Cellular radio network, or the services that lay upon it. Consequently, your expectations around what these services should cost and how they should behave are often limited. 

Don't get me wrong, I try to stay aware from the nuts and bolts of it too, but this often causes confusion, mistrust, and frustration when you are trying to decide upon and obtain the best solution for your IoT use case. Quite often, you are comparing apples with oranges but if you at least understood the mechanisms and workings behind these conversations and presentations you would feel a lot more aware.

Let's be honest, none of us like to feel like we've just been taken for a fool.  Human nature requires us to look like we know what we are talking about, in order to create a sense of awareness. 

Yet, most of my clients make the mistake of talking about price way too early in any negotiation. If the subject of price comes up too soon, most sales people know that you are fairly naive in the whole "connectivity" space.... and will likely look to take advantage of it. The topic of conversation and the basis of the negotiations should be about best value rather than cost. In order to do that, you need to understand what your best solution is first.

This is where most clients make their first (of many) wrong choice...where basis of the decision is made upon price as opposed to capability vs value.