Two facts of life in the market for technology products are abundantly clear.
Here’s a diagram that is helping me to think about the tension between technology buyers and sellers. A tension in which sellers want to push information out to buyers and want more control over the process. And in which buyers want the opposite. Buyers want to pull information to them and they want information that sellers don’t control directly.
This diagram looks at the tension from the seller’s point of view. It compares the opportunities for communicating with customers along two dimensions – seller pushing versus buyer pulling on one axis and seller has more control versus seller has less control on the other axis.
Let’s look at each quadrant in turn.
Push, More Control.
It’s easy to see why we like Advertising so much. It’s the method that gives us the most control over the content and delivery of our message. Of course, it’s the method where it’s hardest to be measurably effective. We are broadcasting to members of an audience that hasn’t indicated whether they have any interest in what we have to say.
Push, Less Control.
Here we are still pushing our message, but indirectly through a third party. In the case of Direct Sales, we have some control over the message because sales people are agents of the company. But each sales person develops a way of communicating the message, so sales training, mentoring, and lots of sales tools are important to communicate consistently with customers through direct sales. Companies like Xerox and IBM are masters at cultivating their direct sales organizations.
We can cultivate Press Relations, but have little control over what the press says. It is this lack of control that make the press more credible to customers. And why it’s so valuable when a credible journalist writes about us.
Pull, More Control.
Just because buyers are pulling information at their own discretion doesn’t mean we don’t have any control over the information they receive. Vendor Websites are an important source of information for buyers. We have control over the content of the website and a lot to gain from a website that is rich in useful information. Information that buyers will understand, remember, and will be influenced to take action.
The primary way the technology buyers are likely to find us on the web is through Search Engines. We also have a lot of control over our visibility in the search engines for important keyword phrases. We just have to be willing to invest the time and energy to optimize our site for search.
Pull, Less Control.
Ah, the irony. This quadrant contains sources of information that buyers find most credible, but that sellers find most difficult. First let’s look at Social Media. If a buyer asks for recommendations on a personal network like Linked In and a person in the network recommends your company, that recommendation has a lot of credibility. If a buyer participates in a topic-based online forum like ITtoolbox, the advice and answers are going to be perceived as not only helpful, but as coming from a member of the buyer’s community. It makes a lot of sense then for staff at the seller to participate in these online communities, not to pitch product but to help answer questions and advance the conversation.
Which brings us to Customer Service. Here is one of the most powerful but most neglected marketing tools. The staff in customer service are chartered to represent both the customer and the company. It’s here that the most powerful stories about companies who fix problems and create trust, like this recent story in the New York Times about a columnist’s experience with Amazon.
What’s the message I’d like to leave with you?
Move down and to the right.
Develop methods of communicating that relinquish control and that allow buyers to pull the information at a time of their choosing. Move down and to the right to use the marketing process to add value to the buyer. Move down and to the right to be more visible and credible.
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