"Selling" technical ideas to the customer

We all remember how in 2007 the first iPhone made a real revolution in the world of mobile phones - a very convenient, beautiful, full-screen smartphone was presented. Magazines were filled with headlines, which Apple made a breakthrough - it would seem that there wasn’t and there was nothing like the iPhone. At the same time, hardly anyone remembers such a phone as IBM Simon. In fact, it was very similar to the iPhone - its entire front panel occupied the touch screen. Just like the iPhone, it had only one mechanical button. Just like in the iPhone, there were different applications in it. But, unlike the iPhone, IBM Simon appeared in 1994, as much as 13 years before the iPhone! So why do we remember well the appearance of the first iPhone and completely forgot about IBM Simon, in which the same ideas were implemented, but much earlier? The idea was, in fact, excellent. But it was filed out of time and not quite in the right “package”: the design was far from perfect, the price was too high, the target audience was not the same, and so on.

So how do you “pack” and “sell” ideas so that they become “iPhones” and not “simons”?

Perhaps many of us have heard or uttered phrases:

1. “What we use is outdated five years ago!”
2. "It is completely impossible to maintain!"
3. “The customer is only interested in the new functionality!”
4. “He can't hear us!”
5. “I want in another project / company!”

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Familiar? We have great ideas, we know how to improve the project, but for some reason the customer does not hear us. Let's first understand how we “sell” ideas, how we present them to the customer. Usually we present our ideas to the customer like this:

1. "It is necessary to introduce automated testing!"
2. “I urgently need to upgrade to Java 1.8!”
3. "In accordance with the methodology of eXtream programming, one cannot do without pair programming!"
4. “It is required to stop the development of new functionality for 3 months to refactor the kernel!”

Let's now conduct a mental experiment: let's imagine for a second ourselves at the customer's place and think about how the customer answers the question of who needs it. Programmers, engineers - that's who. And who pays for it? Customer. Here is the root of the problem! That is why it is not possible to introduce new cool technologies! Because the customer, the one who pays, the one who makes decisions, does not understand why he needs it.

1) Check the idea:
Therefore, first of all, you should check the idea: we need to think about whether the technology that we want to introduce into the project is beneficial for the customer. Here, of course, two options: brings or does not bring. Fortunately, new ideas and technologies are being made to ensure that they are being made to improve, accelerate, reduce costs, increase costs, etc. Therefore, most likely, if you think about this idea, it will most likely benefit the customer. And if you, having conducted a mental experiment, came to the conclusion that the idea will not bring benefits to you or the customer, you will be reassured, because no one wants to wear water to anyone, you don’t want to do what you don’t need. Therefore, in any case, there will be happiness: either an idea is needed, or there is peace and you can look for other ideas that are definitely needed.

2) "Packing" the idea:
Further, if we decide that the customer needs an idea, we need to “pack an idea”: think about how to present it. If we say that we need to “refactor the core, because we have a technical debt,” we will fail. It is necessary to present it so that the customer understands us! The customer, as a rule, thinks in the categories of “cost”, “money”, “terms”, etc. Therefore, in order for the customer to become clear, the advantages of the ideas that we see should be expressed in the customer's language . For example, we can say that the introduction of one or another idea will reduce costs - for example, for testing. What else can attract a customer? Launch speed, speed of entry into the market, increase in profits, expansion of the user audience (and, as a result, increase in profits), etc. There can be plenty of attractive moments for customers! Four are most common: increasing profits, reducing costs, accelerating market entry, and improving quality.

So, we translated the idea into the language of the customer. We continue the "packaging". What's next? If we come to the customer with this, then we most likely will not achieve success, because the customer has the following questions:

• “How much does it cost, what is ROI?”
• “What are the risks here?”
• “What are the alternatives?”
• "What is the use?"

The customer will ask about it because it is he who invests the money and must be sure that every penny will be used wisely, that you thought about everything and took everything into account. Therefore, when you go with your idea to the customer or project manager, you need to have in your head answers to these questions.

3) Select the time:
Suppose we "packed" the idea, came to the customer, explained everything, but the idea does not work. Why? Maybe the time is wrong. The right time strongly depends on the project cycle and you, as participants in the project, know better here. Most often, the wrong time is right before the release or immediately after the release. Before the release, we fix bugs, the customer has no time for that. After the release, the customer is engaged in the promotion and planning of the new version, and he again has no time for that. Usually a good time is a retrospective ; This event is just intended to gather new ideas and think about whether they can be implemented.

4) We are looking for the right person:
So, imagine that we "packed" the idea, chose the time, came to the customer, but the decision was not made. Why? Maybe we just came to the wrong person. It is important for us to find exactly the person who has the authority to decide on our issue. As you understand, there can be two cases here: a person who makes decisions and a person who does not have such powers. Usually, everything is simple, but sometimes a person who does not make decisions is simply embarrassed to say that he does not really accept them, and as a result he leads you by the nose: you come to him, and he sends you somewhere, etc. It’s pretty simple to figure out whether this is the right person: if after two or three attempts a person says neither yes nor no, he just asks questions, most likely he is disguised and in fact doesn’t solve anything and we need to look for someone then another.

Sometimes it happens that the decision maker is unavailable. This is a difficult situation, but not hopeless. In this case, you can try to find the person available to you and, at the same time, having access to the decision maker. We can try to sort out its priorities and repackage the idea so that it solves the tasks of not only the decision maker, but also his. Thus, we are doing the “double pack” of ideas.

5) We define the problem:
Many probably know the following rule in engineering: if something works, it is better not to touch it. Therefore, even if you have some ingenious idea (for example, how to cut the testing speed twice), but in principle everything is fine, the guys are coping, a good quality product and on time it’s likely your idea leave without much attention. Therefore, the customer needs to create a sense of the problem - attention, not the problem itself (it already exists), but its feeling! In other words, we open the eyes of the customer that he has a problem. How to do it? You can, for example, share your pain. You can come to the customer and complain that we, for example, spend a lot of time on manual testing, and in fact we could spend all this time developing new components, etc. Or we tell the customer about the loss of profit: if we had there was automated testing, we could release versions much faster, more quickly respond to changes in the market and new user requirements.

After we told the customer about the problem, we should not immediately offer its solution. First, we wait for the customer to become aware of the problem, when it will mature. How long should I wait? The best option is if the customer then comes to us and says that there really is such a problem. Everything! This means the idea is sold. The only thing left is to “pack up” the idea a bit, and everything is ready. If this does not happen, we ourselves can go to the customer in a week or two and find out from him what he thinks about the situation. If he starts nodding, then you are on the right track.

6) We carry out a demonstration:
Better to see once than hear a hundred times. It is good if we can introduce this technology in some small project to show it to the customer: “Here, look how cool it is!” Or to hold a demonstration. Or show the example of another team, how it works well. Everything that you can not just hear, but to see in action, to feel - plays for the benefit. Therefore, if possible, we arrange a demonstration.

7) We train:
Then we definitely train. After all, even if we carefully thought through all these steps in my head and go immediately to the customer, we will most likely be misled. After all, everyone thinks differently! And the customer, most likely, will ask you such questions about which you did not even suspect. Therefore, it is best to gather colleagues and ask them to criticize your idea. Or play "in the customer": choose a colleague for the role of the customer and try to persuade him to choose your idea. You will be surprised how many interesting comments they will give you. After that, you can recycle the flow of your idea and more likely to be able to implement this idea.

8) Show persistence:
In the real world, the idea is rarely implemented the first time. It usually takes 2, 3 attempts, sometimes more. Therefore, persevere - the first time is unlikely to succeed.

Let's summarize
So, to correctly sell the idea to the customer, we do the following:

1. Check the idea - does the customer really need it?
2. We “pack” the idea: we express its advantages in the language of the customer.
3. We choose the time.
4. We are looking for a decision maker.
5. Create a sense of the problem.
6. We are training.
7. We carry out a demonstration of the solution.
8. Did not work out? We show perseverance, we repeat everything from the very beginning - and, sooner or later, the customer will hear you.

Author : Nikolay Malyshev, Delivery Manager DataArt.