In my opinion, a lot of product and engineering managers in hi-tech are unwittingly hostile to potential customers. Their attitude, almost incredibly, can be misinterpreted to mean: “If prospects aren’t smart enough to understand our products, they do not deserve to buy them.” While no one ever said this in actual words, the constant conflict over how to market products and services indicates there is something under-the-surface.
One submerged aspect is revealed in the question: How you shop for technology?
- Engineers and product managers have the intellectual capacity to review detailed specifications and make rational assessments of which products/services perform best.
- Executives, on the other hand, often focus on productivity and efficiency enhancements. They may not understand the technical details, but they respect and understand cost/benefit analyses — especially when costs can be reduced.
- Mid-managers with operational responsibilities take the broadest view of all three by considering how technology will affect processes and staffing. It’s may seem illogical, but mid-managers will gladly choose a product that is technically inferior if the selling company is easy to work with, provides excellent training/support, and takes ownership of the employee change management process.
I’ve head these three groups called “tribes” within a corporation: The Executive Tribe, Operational Tribe, and Technical Tribe. The starkly contrasting values of these three tribes can be seen in their answer to a basic question: “What are people?”
- To members of the Executive tribe, people are expensive.
- To the Operations tribe, people are how you get anything accomplished.
- To the Technical tribe, people are single largest source of error.
Moral of Story: The companies that can address the values and concerns of these three tribes will be far more successful selling to large enterprises and agencies.