There is probably any business vertical today that can survive the rigorous competition and stay relevant without incorporating advanced technologies in this digitally driven era. Nowadays, artificial intelligence and machine learning are overtaking the business world. With that, there is a constant emphasis on improving efficiency and responsibly evolving the technology. While placing effective sales calls is crucial, selling technology requires a lot more.
Technological advancements are taking place so rapidly that chances are there a plethora of your clients won’t be aware of what you have to offer to them. Not all the salespeople get to deal with true-blue technology people; you might have to deal with non-technological people. Such people won’t even be interested in knowing the technology complexities unless someone encounters the reverse-engineering of the technology being sold.
Renowned Brands That Are Efficiently Selling Technology Solutions to Non-Technology People
Apple has earned the stature of being the shining beacon in dealing with non-technical people while selling technology. The product descriptions of Apple’s products are simple yet catchy and elegant. Almost everyone has a smartphone nowadays, and brands like to focus on camera pixels, processors, and other such features. Conversely, Apple prefers informing the buyers about the quality of images that Apple products offer. Apple also focuses on telling the buyers that their devices can be charged rapidly.
Another renowned brand that focuses on elegance and minimalism instead of using jargon is Ford. It classically displays the cards from various angles that give the prospective buyers a feeling that the cars they are planning to buy are superior.
Dos and Don’ts of Selling Technology Solutions to Non-tech People
Each buyer is different, and the impending needs also vary widely. Thus, there isn’t a standard sales pitch that businesses can adopt to sell technology solutions to non-technical people. The dos and don’ts mentioned below can be instrumental in improving sales conversions.
Talk About Problems, Present Technology As A Solution – Selling Technology
The first step to get the answer of how to sell technology is keeping the process simple yet effective: Problem-Objective-Solution. By following this method, you can grab the attention of your target clients towards your technology.
You should start the sales talk with the challenges faced by the audience and the extent of your understanding of their needs. After that, the next step should be to demonstrate how your technology will be targeting their problems and offer additional benefits to them. However, don’t bore them by excessively elaborating the technical details.
Talk about their problems and tell them how your technology will solve them. Suppose the client’s laptop gets disconnected frequently from the internet connection or shut down abruptly. In this case, it won’t be a good idea to tell the client about the faults of the device’s motherboard or the problems with drivers causing connection outages. Instead, focus on fixing the issues and offer a solution that says, “You won’t face further inconveniences as we have fixed the issues of your device.”
Keep it Basic and Simple, But Don’t Play Dumb
Start by focusing on the advantages and USP of the product without over-simplifying it. Businesses are looking for innovative and handy technology solutions to differentiate their offerings to various stakeholders. Thus, you should give them a solid reason to get excited about your offerings and what you have in store for them.
Once you have established the significance of your technology in the clients’ eyes, it’s time to step a little deeper into your product’s intricacies. It is advised to start by understanding the fluency of clients’ tech-lingo in the respective technology. The most common mistake that most sales professionals make is to try to instruct the customers about your technology’s functionalities.
Always Contextualize the Pitch With Examples
Non-technology persons consume technology very differently. Use examples of your clients, explain their stories and journeys to sell the technology efficiently. Additionally, contextualize the problems that technology has solved for each client. Craft an excellent story around the upgraded and better user experience instead of merely diving deeper into the product features. A combination of both can be a game-changer for you.
There isn’t any need to walk them thoroughly through the details of developing the back-end processes. You can efficiently illustrate to the clients how the technology will be making things a lot better by presenting the bigger picture.
For instance, take the example of cloud-based web development platforms, which shows the traditional tasks of a web developer to a layman. You can intelligibly show the processes while editing the technicalities involved as well as selling the web development ideas to the users.
Offer Ultimate Support and Further Enhancements
Reliable support is the added advantage to a promising technology. People who don’t know how to sell technology can make the mistake of solely focusing on sales. You should ensure the customers that you are willing to provide the ultimate support and have the capability to do so. By providing thorough and prompt support with further enhancement (if there are any), you can win more clients. Don’t just tell the price and hope for sealing the deal, instead give them an overview of what you have to offer them.
Non-technical persons won’t be just looking to purchase technology, instead also looking for a trustworthy partner who can offer dedicated support apart from integrating the technology into their business. Ease the prospects’ fears by stressing your availability and sharing all the updates regarding future product enhancements, upgrades, and features in the pipeline. In this way, you can create a reliable and long-term relationship with customers and prospects by offering lifetime value to them.
Adapt, But Don’t Overcommit
The interests and behaviors of prospects may differ greatly. The clients will have a wide range of concerns, questions, and ideas before making a transaction with your business. Being well-prepared while pitching the technology solution to non-technology people is essential. If you are still stuck on selling the technology, focus on curating the pitch to match the business objectives and goals.
You should be ready to transform, adjust, and modify the products to meet the clients’ changing needs as a technologist. It is paramount that you should never overcommit to the clients. Setting unrealistic and high expectations will lead to disappointment inadvertently. Be sure of your strengths and capabilities and commit accordingly.
Think Out-of-the-box and Don’t Be One-dimensional
Most salespersons don’t know how to sell technology and take it like selling a tangible product. The most significant pick here is to think outside the box. Whenever a buyer is looking for something, there is an impending need that he wants to cater to. While you are learning how to sell technology, the proposal should address how the technology you are offering will solve the need.
Don’t be afraid to offer new ideas and suggestions as there may be an innovative way to provide the solution or add value for some other pain points. It would be better if you give three packages to the prospects: basic, mid, and advanced. The title of these packages should be catchy and relevant to the brand.
Wrapping Up – selling technology
As businesses are tight on budgets, they become more reluctant to adapt to new technology without a compelling and substantial reason. Selling technology solutions has become a lot more challenging and sophisticated as they are becoming high-demand products for universal mobility and business efficiency. By the end of this article, you might have got the answer to the question “How to sell technology efficiently.”
