Vendor Comparison Matrix Skill

Vendor selections get decided by the best demo and then justified by a matrix built afterward — criteria reverse-engineered to bless the favorite, which is how the shiny interface wins over the boring integration that actually mattered. The honest matrix inverts the order: criteria and weights are set before the demos (from the requirements, with the must-have/nice-to-have line drawn), scores cite evidence (the competitive-scan-lite claimed/observed/verified flags), the cost row is total cost (license + implementation + training + the switching cost both ways), and references get called with questions designed to pierce the happy-customer screen.

What This Skill Produces

• The weighted matrix — criteria × weights, set pre-demo, with the must-have gate separate from the scored nice-to-haves
• The evidence-scored grid — every score flagged: 📢 vendor-claimed / 👁 demo-observed / ✅ verified (trial, reference, docs)
• The TCO row — the all-in number per vendor: license, implementation, training, integration, and the exit cost
• The reference script — the questions that get past the curated happy customer

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The requirements, from the users — what the actual users need done (not the feature wishlist — the jobs); must-haves separated from nice-to-haves before any vendor contact (proposal-skeleton honesty applied to procurement)
• The vendor set — the candidates, including the incumbent/do-nothing option scored on the same matrix
• The weights' owners — who says integration matters more than UI? Weights are decisions with owners, set in a room, pre-demo
• The switching context — what leaving the current tool costs (data migration, retraining, the vendor-breakup-email terms) — TCO's most-forgotten row

Framework: The Matrix Rules

1. Criteria before demos, weights before scores: the matrix is built and weighted from requirements before vendor contact — because demos are professionally designed to rewrite your criteria ("we didn't know we needed that!" is the demo working as intended; new criteria discovered mid-process go through the weight-owners, explicitly). Must-haves gate (fail one = out, regardless of sparkle); nice-to-haves score.
2. Scores carry evidence flags: vendor-claimed (📢, worth little until verified), demo-observed (👁, better — but demos are their golden path, per demo-script — you're watching their rehearsed best), verified (✅ — your trial on your data, the reference's testimony, the docs' actual limits). A matrix full of 📢 scores is the vendor's marketing, formatted as your diligence.
3. The trial beats the demo: for the finalists, the structured trial — your data, your workflow, your users, 2 weeks, with the success criteria written first (survey-design-basics pre-commitment logic) — converts 👁 to ✅ on the criteria that matter most. Vendors who resist a trial on the load-bearing features are answering the question in their own way.
4. TCO includes both switching costs: license + implementation + training + integration + the cost of leaving the current tool + — the row everyone omits — the cost of leaving THIS vendor later (export formats, contract terms, the lock-in read). The cheap license with proprietary data formats is quoting you the entry price of a room with expensive exits.
5. References get piercing questions: the vendor's references are curated — the script compensates: "What surprised you after go-live?" · "What would you do differently in implementation?" · "When something broke, walk me through the support experience" · "Who shouldn't buy this?" (the honest reference answers that one; the scripted one stumbles) — and the off-list move: find a customer they didn't offer ([the user-community forum is the uncurated reference pool]).

Output Format

Vendor Matrix: [decision] — [N] candidates incl. incumbent

The Gate + Weights (set [date], pre-demo, owners: [names])

[Must-haves: pass/fail per vendor · Nice-to-haves × weights]

The Scored Grid

The TCO Row

[Per vendor: license + implementation + training + integration + switch-in + exit-later = all-in over [term]]

Reference Calls

[The script's piercing set · the off-list candidate found · findings per call]

Quality Checks

• Criteria and weights predate all demos, with owners named
• Must-haves gate before any scoring charm applies
• Every score carries its evidence flag; finalists' key criteria reached ✅
• TCO includes both switching costs
• At least one reference question pierced the curation

Anti-Patterns

• Do not build the matrix after the favorite emerges — that's a justification wearing a grid
• Do not let demos add criteria silently — discoveries route through the weight-owners
• Do not score marketing claims as facts — the flags exist because 📢 and ✅ are different knowledge
• Do not compare license prices as costs — TCO or the cheap option costs the most
• Do not skip the incumbent row — every selection is versus something, and do-nothing has a score