Tech Teams Need To Become Sales People

Selected Topics

Tech Teams Need To Become Sales People

Being in Tech can be very frustrating. They know of all sorts of improvements that need to be made to the product. They know there are projects that need to be done to meet future customer growth. They are keenly aware that there are security and technical compliance flaws in the products and systems. And yet no one will listen to them – they’re all too busy chasing the next big headline customer or bright product idea.

So Tech often feel downtrodden:

  • They’re at the end of the product delivery cycle
  • They live in a mystery world that folk outside Tech generally don’t really understand
  • They are on the receiving end of customer date promises
  • They feel helpless to influence the direction of the plans

But part of the problem is that Tech teams are often poor at selling their message to the rest of the business in a way that gets the attention of non-Tech teams. They need to become better sales people.
Think about what sales people do to persuade customers to buy:

  • Identify and set out the customer need and how the product/service meets that need
  • Underline the product’s value to the customer
  • Hint at the consequences of not buying the product/service
  • Shape the offering to meet the customer’s budget
  • Negotiate the price and clinch the sale

So what can Tech teams learn from this?

  • Keeping the Show on the Road: Tech are responsible for making sure that the product can be offered on a continuing basis without the systems falling down. So construct a set of projects in manageable chunks and sell the benefits while outlining the risks. And show they represent good value for money
  • Future growth: Be proactive in building project proposals that will help the business deliver on its growth targets ahead of time. Build the excitement within the organisation and show you’re a proactive part of the plan
  • Security: Spell out the consequences to revenues and reputation of not plugging key security gaps – sell the message to those who will have to deal with any security failures and get their buy-in. Be selective about which security projects will bring the greatest value to the business
  • Compliance: Be pragmatic and flexible in finding lean solutions to compliance challenges. Work with the business to prioritise those compliance actions that keep the company on the right side of the regulations without gold-plating the solutions. But stand up for what is right and be the conscience of the business. Again sell the benefits and underline the risks

If you would like us to work with your Tech team on their softer skills, please contact us.

Contact us at Nimble Results to see how we can help

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