For one week go around and look at different software products. Have their vendors describe them to you. During that week do not buy any of the products.

At the end of the week you should have a clear view of what's best. What you should be looking for is this:

1. Does the product solve all my problems? (Make a list of the problems that accounting software should solve for you. Then see which comes the closest and what kind of solutions it offers.)

2. Does the product come with support? How much does phone support cost? Who do I blame when stuff stops working? (Being able to blame the vendor usually costs more, but guarantees that you get either a high quality product or a way of getting your money back later when stuff goes poof.)

3. Do they offer training with their product? Is it needed or is the documentation good enough?

Basically what you should do is simply stop worrying. There are 3 kinds of vendors:

1. Those who visibly don't care about you. Vote with your wallet and take your business elsewhere. You won't get support, only apathy.

2. Those who just want to make the sale without listening to what your problems are that you are trying to solve with this purchase. Either ask to speak to some other salesman (the product might be good, after all) or walk out backwards as fast as possible. You're likely to end up with a crap product.

3. Those who listen to your problems and tell you how their product solves them. Add them to your "will consider" list.

Then just choose the best one from that list and you're done :)

Learn more about this author, Elver Loho.
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