Are You Selling Products and
Solutions or Technology?
January 2004 - BEK Best Practices Newsletter
When you talk to your customers about your products, what
do you say? Do you tell them it's revolutionary technology?
Do you detail all features, speeds and feeds?
How do your customers respond? Do they tell you all the
uses they can think of for your technology? Do they regale
you with stories of how this will change the way they do
business? Or do they say, "why do I need this? What problems
does it solve?" Or worse, do they say, "thanks, but no
thanks," or find other ways to put you off?
Technology is a very creative business, and it's easy
to get excited about all the cool things your new product
or upgrade can do. Lots of companies talk about how great
their technology is. But, sadly, we hear very few companies
discussing the problems their products solve and the benefits
their solution will bring. It's these solutions that customers
want to know about, and benefits that drive their buying
decisions.
Don't think that you can leave that bit of ingenuity to
your customers. They are having a difficult enough time
just defining and solving their problems. They don't have
the brain space available to sleuth out the benefits of
your product. You have to do it for them.
How Not to Do It: Lead with Features
Let's
take a look at some companies with fantastic technology
and their customers who don't get the point of the products.
Several analytics companies talk about how complex and
great their mathematical algorithms are and how the bulk
of the company is comprised of world-renowned PhDs. Cool,
huh. What the customers needed to hear is that the product
enables them to understand that they can increase revenues,
market share, reduce costs, etc., by applying a standard
product/solution that involves the use of advanced mathematics.
Along those same lines, many reporting tools companies
tend to focus heavily on the technical aspect of report
creation and the technology behind it. Instead, the customer
needs to hear how the product solves business problems
such as how end users can run reports themselves (and IT
doesn't have to), how the data can be manipulated to reveal
risks and opportunities, and how everyone can see business
metrics for the company. These are every day business needs
with hard and soft dollar implications.
It's not just single individual companies who commit the
sin of techno-babble. Whole markets such as CRM, ERP, and
supply chain companies often enter into feature and/or
price wars rather than focusing on how their product/solution
solves business problems. Newer companies in these spaces
tend to tout their technology and why it is so much better
than the more established players (which may well be true),
but often don't do so in a manner that helps the prospective
buyer justify reason for purchase.
Is Technology Ever Sold as Technology?
Yes.
There are times when a technology is very new into the
marketplace. It is not proven and often the actual application
of the technology is unknown or unproven. For example,
neural networking software (the theory being that computers
can teach themselves rather than have human programmers)
is an example of a technology that has yet to find unique
and compelling applications. Good as it sounds, it hasn't
caught on.
If technology is early in its lifecycle (e.g. innovator
or even early adopter phase) then you will be selling and
talking about the technology and its possibilities. Once
you start to understand the possible applications then
you will want to start talking about your technology from
a solution perspective - communicating how it solves business
problems.
What Customers Will Buy
In today's business climate, companies are buying what
they absolutely must have to run their business. If it
isn't a necessity and won't help increase revenues, then
their chances of purchasing a new solution are slim. With
that in mind, regardless of what you sell (even if it is
infrastructure technology), can you answer these questions?
- Have you asked your prospects about their
business problems?
- Do you understand, what if anything, they
have done to try to solve their problem?
- Do you know how their solution is working?
Why is or isn't it working?
- Have you asked about the cost impacts? The
cost of not solving the problem? The cost to implement
their solution?
- What impacts does the business problem(s)
have on your prospects?
If you can answer the above questions then you can present
your technology to your prospects in the form of a product
or solution that addresses their immediate business pains.
Rather than talking about the features of your technology
you can package it into a solution (be it an application,
middleware, or infrastructure) with clear and obvious results
that are directly tied to the business problem.
Please share with us stories you have where companies
have sold or tried to sell technology versus a product
or solution.
Next month's topic: Are Your
Messages Resonating with Your Customers?
For more information, contact BEK Enterprises at:
Web: www.bekteam.com
E-mail:
Phone: 650-631-2800
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