Hartman Blacklisted by Microsoft

What does it mean to be “black-listed”? That was the question I first asked myself when I found out that Hartman Executive Advisors was blacklisted by international giant Microsoft.

Apparently, anytime a Microsoft employee types our company’s name into their CRM system, a message pops up warning them not to do business with us.  Wow, I thought, we must have really done something bad to deserve this treatment.

What would this mean for our growing company?  I found out that the blacklisting apparently happened more than five years ago, and over that time, our company has grown revenues by over 200% and employee count by over 400%.  I started to feel a little better.

Then I learned why we were blacklisted.  About five years ago, a client hired us to conduct an independent assessment of their business and how they could use technology more effectively to grow the business.  This particular client had invested heavily in Microsoft systems over the years.

While much of that investment was paying off nicely and had helped them grow significantly, a large portion of their licenses and support agreements remained unused.  In fact, many of the purchases were still in their original packaging.  Focused on our client’s bottom line, we recommended that they not renew many of these unused agreements and licenses, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Of course, those savings were at the expense of a Microsoft salesperson’s numbers for the year, and when Microsoft found out that Hartman was behind helping our client save hundreds of thousands of dollars (which could have been – and in some cases were – reinvested  into other, more impactful Microsoft solutions), they blacklisted us.

Suddenly, I was no longer worried about being blacklisted by Microsoft.  In fact, it had become a Badge of Honor for our company and our consultants.  We were doing the right thing for our clients, and doing so proudly.

The irony of this story is that we have probably recommended more Microsoft solutions to our hundreds of loyal clients over the years than many official Microsoft resellers.  Of course, we only recommend Microsoft (or any other solution) when we truly believe that it is in our clients’ best interest.  And if we don’t, we recommend something else or nothing at all.  While I’d honestly rather be on the ‘friend’ list, in the end, I guess I’m really OK with it.

Is there a lesson here for all of us?  I believe there is.

• If you are a CEO, CFO or IT Director, review ALL of your licenses and agreements on a regular basis to make sure you are getting your money’s worth; you might be spending thousands unnecessarily and your vendor might not be looking out for your best interest.
• If you are a software vendor, look out for the best interest of your customer, even if it means losing revenue or licensing in the short run.  It will pay off in the long run.

How will life at Hartman change now that we know we’ve been blacklisted?  Not one bit.  We’ll still recommend them when it’s the right answer, and recommend cancelling contracts when they are wasting our clients’ hard earned money.  Of course, I do hope that next time we call a Microsoft office looking for help for one of our clients, they take our call.  It may actually help one of THEIR clients.