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Achieving successful technical sales now depends on the strength of marketing accomplishments. Earlier, the business objective was to build a technically robust product. Today, you must beef up your firm's marketing skills.
There are three different levels of making a sale – get on the supplier short-list, become the selected supplier and become the selected supplier while commanding hefty price premium. Worldwide, IBM was the first technical marketer to get to third level.
Many companies feel they did not need much marketing planning or positioning, and preferred to be in "marketing hibernation" mode. All of them seem to be happy with the number of opportunities abroad.
What they do not realise is that the current advantage they have should be used to strengthen the marketing muscle to prepare for future. It is only a matter of time before a software giant or a new public company emerges in their domain, and this short-sightedness will guarantee that these firms will be caught without a differentiation strategy.
It is unfortunate that most tech companies see marketing as sales effort. That only explains the number of vacancies of business development manager floating around. There is a seven-point prescription for firms to use marketing to advantage and succeed like TCS or Infosys:
Think of marketing as an investment, not expense. This is a known mantra but few practise it. If you invest each marketing rupee wisely, you can calculate a return for that rupee in future.
Understand the difference between sales and marketing. Marketing generates leads. Provided sales executives are properly motivated, the sales division turns each lead into a closed sale. If the leads are not properly qualified, sales cannot be successful. But if each lead is well screened, sales executives can shine.
Be aware that only you can instill belief in your product. A director of marketing at a software company proudly says that they have just signed a contract with two giant software vendors to install their product in every system they sell. He admitted that the reason they had to resort to original equipment manufacturers was because their sales team was too weak.
Equip every member of your firm to become a marketer. Seek the help of an external consultant to empower every member. Many software developers believe that ‘if you don't see the value of my product, you're not worth selling to.’
Realise that the managing director is a CEO, not a salesperson. Often, managing directors of software companies get drawn into daily worries about the firm's sales quotas, which usurps the sales director's job. Managing directors stepping in to bat to close strategic sales is fine, but not on a day-to-day basis.
Choose a smaller target if your budget is tight. Budget-constrained companies can still win marketing battles. Smaller or cash-strapped companies can still enjoy sales results provided they know how to choose a smaller target.
Know that when a prospective customer says "no" he means "later." One software company in accounting tools business has been spending millions trying to acquire new leads through their in-house telemarketing team.
When asked why they weren't contacting the 5,000 names in their current database, the managing director said the companies had already declined. In technical marketing, it is easier and faster to turn any number of negative responses from a single prospect into a "yes" than to do so with a previously unknown prospect.
The writer is the CEO and MD of CustomerLab Solutions
