Techies rattle salespeople. In fact, it can be quite a sport for them. Technical professionals enjoy asking what they feel are provocative questions about your products, services, and platforms. It’s tough not to spout what sounds like a canned spiel in response. It’s your fear response taking over from your listening logically response. The more they sense your fear is when the techies seem to really get going and start cross-examining us about technical minutiae. So much for a sales conversation and controlling the business development process.
While talking with techies can be uncomfortable for most of us, it doesn’t have to be. With a little insight into their mindset, you will find you two have far more similarities than differences. This post is the second in a two-part series entitled: 7 Tips for Selling to Techies.
The first 3 Tips were published yesterday.
Tip 4 – You are a sales expert, not their technical peer. Techies avoid business development at all costs. Why? Because the concept of selling makes techies just as uncomfortable as talking to techies makes you feel! Let this insight temper the flow of your sales conversation. Keep it comfortable and educational. You don’t need to impress techies with how much you know about their technology. (You can’t!) You do need to educate them about your sales process. Explain why you are asking questions. Let them know you have done your homework and have questions and ideas about what you’ve learned. Share the trends you’ve observed across your customers. Techies love to learn. You can give them a peek outside their own walls into the broader world of the competitive global market. Now that’s valuable.
Tip 5 – Tell them why you selected to call on them. I’ve found being straightforward with technical accounts can be disarming, probably because most emails and voicemails sound canned and robotic. I called on a prospect for several months before one of the partners picked up the phone. Expecting to get voicemail for the umpteenth time, I was a bit taken aback when I heard his voice! I gushed out: “I’ve been calling on you for the past two months because I’m fascinated by your technology and how you’ve applied it to all sorts of products I never imagined. I told myself, ‘This is a company I want to work with.’!” I got the appointment and landed the account. We learned from each other. The techies perceived me as a trusted partner. I can’t tell you how many times the technical acumen I gained from this one account has allowed me to identify needs for new customers.
Tip 6 – Establish a common denominator for your conversations and expertise. In tech or engineering companies the decision-maker is probably a technical professional who morphed into a businessperson. They have to address day-to-day and long term operational and revenue aspects of their business. That’s your common denominator. As you earn their trust, they will teach you more about their business model and industry challenges. Techies like data, even if it’s soft. Discuss how their company compares, and contrasts, with the rest of the companies you call on. Business owners and decision-makers want to know about the dynamics of the marketplace. Gaining expertise in these topics allows you to have a peer discussion and provide relevant value to your customers.
Tip 7 – The most important hurdles to overcome are your own biases and stereotypes. Techies are perceived as Dilbert® personas: they stick to their own kind, talk in a monotone, use large words to explain themselves, and make non-techies feel dumb. Salespeople are perceived as smarmy, dime-a-dozen, manipulative talking heads who memorize sales scripts and regurgitate them at sales calls. How were these two stereotypes formed? In most companies, sales folks and techies are separated in divisional silos creating Us vs. Them mindset. By taking some time to identify how your own mindset creates obstacles to selling to techies, you will discover how to showcase your sales expertise to those who need it.
From now on, let the techies work over your competitors instead of you. Do your homework, examine your mindset, and engage technical decision-makers in a productive manner. Soon you will find it easier to talk with and sell to techies. And that means more opportunities for success in today’s globally competitive economy.
What have your experiences been when selling to techies?
Babette Ten Haken works with technically-focused companies, entrepreneurs and start-ups, enhancing team performance for revenue generation. Her popular blog, Sales Aerobics for Engineers® helps bridge the gap between technical and sales/marketing professionals. Click here to read the first chapter of her new book, “Do YOU Mean Business?”
Close, however your perspective hides an innate fear of techies. We’re not that scary. We just don’t suffer fools really well. A fool is someone that claims they have a solution to our problem without an understanding of our problem. It is as simple as that. It is the primary mistake a sales person makes with a techie.
Dale Carnegie’s golden rule “show a sincere interest in others” applies to us techies too. Our interests are in design and functionality. Ask about our designs and what makes them unique. If you can’t understand, admit it and ask for more info. We generally enjoy teaching although we dont all excel at it.
Still can’t understand what we do? No problem. Just ask why we decided to meet with you. We’ll tell you what aspects of your solution enticed us to meet. It may not be why you think. Ask why the current solution is insufficient. Ask what other possible solutions are and how your’s compares. Ask what resrvations they have about your solution. You’ll get the info you want. If you’re brave suggest some potential “issues” with your solution. You’ll gain respect this way. It doesn’t take rocket science to sell to a rocket scientist. It just takes the Sandler approach.
BTW, we don’t call ourselves “techies”. We refer to ourselves as engineers, scientists or technicians.
BTW, I make my living selling to “techies”.
Thanks for your insightful comments, Jonathan. It takes more than the Sandler or Carnegie approach to sell to our technical colleagues (who will tend to refer to themselves as techies – or worse – in a joking manner when in closed circles). I should know. I am one. I recommend Tony Alessandra’s Platinum Rule: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.” It’s not about the you or me, it’s about the “we.” Collaboration results from both parties suspending their need for the other to follow their rules for communication. That’s when the ‘aha’ happens. If everyone seated around the table leaves their disciplines and status quo mindset at the door, things tend to move forward a lot more productively and profitably.
Great article. Your points are all right on and will be shared with my sales team.
Answering the question, “How does this work?” when directed to an operations manager, is different than the answer you give an IT manager. It is important to think out in advance the complete answer for each respective audience, and don’t get the two mixed up!
Suggestion: When you are in a mixed audience be sure to learn who is sitting where so you can make eye contact with the IT folks as you state “this is, of course, in layman’s terms and after the meeting I can email you an IT FAQ that explains in more technical detail if you like?”
By making that simple acknowledgement to all, you relieve yourself from having to be a know-it-all, you put IT at ease that your company has resources aligned to their needs, and reduce the odds that they will try to corner you into a treacherous game of gotcha in front of your prospect’s entire management team.
Glad you found this content helpful, Mark. It’s easier to avoid establishing a dialogue by finding things to disagree about rather than establishing common denominators. Your suggestions are well made. Appreciate your sharing with the readers. Best wishes, Babette
And remember they are people too: fathers, and sons, sports enthusiasts, etc. So relate on non-techie material as well. Fathers love to talk about how well their kids are doing at school, football field, etc. Connect with them as a person 1st, a client 2nd. And keep the why of the sales call clear: “we’re here to solve problem x.” We all love to solve problems..
Greg, appreciate your insights on the second of this two-part post, as well. We spend a lot of time labeling our colleagues as being this or that, us versus them. As you wisely note, when it boils down to it, we simply are people.