(Graham Brown mobileYouth) Don’t Teach a Pig to Sing: Why you should master the internal sale first when selling technology

mobileYouth® - youth marketing and mobile culture
analysis of the latest research, insights and trends by Graham D Brown
http://www.mobileyouth.org
Don't Teach a Pig to Sing: Why you should master
the internal sale first when selling technology
IT ANNOYS THE PIG
There is an old adage that you shouldn’t teach a pig to sing.
It wastes your time, and it annoys the pig.
Sometimes when I present to technology companies I have to remind myself.
Selling technology isn't about technology but about people, and some people can
be pigs.
Don't teach a pig to sing
Don't teach a pig to sing
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CHANGE: THE "C" WORD
I've been working in brand and marketing since the late 1990s when we still
believed in the power of Big Advertising, The Pepsi Generation and girls on roller
skates handing out freebies on campus.
Times have changed but people not necessarily so.
Many friends, clients and colleagues in the technology industry have my ear so I
get to hear a lot about their daily trials and tribulations.
"I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall"
"They just don't get it"
"I should just pack up my papers and leave"
Dealing with change in companies, whether as a manager within these
organizations or as a consultant to them can be frustrating.
People don’t like change.
Friends end up expending extraordinary amounts of time and effort (not to say at
least heartache) trying to convince people at all levels of the importance of change
whether that be spending a little less on advertising to invest more in grass roots
marketing, cutting back on celebrity endorsements or making customer service a
spearhead of your marketing strategy.
To these people, the brave warriors who ply the halls of clients and their own
departments trying to keep their brands relevant and competitive while the
bureaucracy of the organization tries to bring them back to Earth, I say this...
You are not mad.
More From Graham Brown's Series on How to Sell Technology
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These 2 Social Experiments Show How Stories Sell Technology
Why you need to become a Farmer not a Hunter to sell technology
Technology Companies need to Embrace the Unofficial or Die
Why People Buy Technology: Social Proof
YOU ARE NOT MAD
That's right, despite what the naysayers say, you are not mad.
You see, the marketing game is easy, very easy indeed.
The real sale isn't convincing teens to buy your latest handset, it's selling to your
own organization.
Your main competitors aren't the next guys in category but those in your
organization who fold their arms, roll their eyes and tell you "we're different here."
The real sale is trying to convince your boss or client that it’s worth continuing this
project and that results are just around the corner.
The real sale is selling the idea that there’s no going back to the old ways of Big
Idea advertising just because that grassroots test project yielded average results.
FOCUS FIRST ON THE INTERNAL SALE
Internal Sale External Sale
Fans Employees, co-workers
who "get it"
Customers who love the
product
Market Spread across different
departments at different
levels within organization
Cross-segmentations and
categories, a diaspora of
Fans, the Interest
Economy
Your role Supply the ammunition:
Give these fans stories,
data, case studies to help
them sell the message
Help them tell their story:
Give Fans tools to help tell
their story, help connect
with their audience and
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internally to their teams peers
So how do you sell to your own people?
Focus on your own Fans internally as you would externally.
What do I mean by that?
You wouldn't go out and throw 100% of your marketing budget at 100% of the
market.
By the same virtue, you shouldn't go out and focus all your energies on 100% of
your organization.
Rather, concentrate your fire power where it's needed, where it's welcome, where
it will be received with open arms.
Apply the 90-10 rule to both your internal as well as your external efforts.
Focus on the 10% that will influence the 90%.
THE 4 PEOPLE YOU'LL MEET IN YOUR PRESENTATION
Just as you have those that get it and those that don't in your customer base, so
you will have Fans and Critics in your own organization.
Successful branding starts internally and that starts with knowing your market and
how to allocate your energies accordingly.
There will be Fans, those who couldn’t care less and there will be critics.
There are 4 type of people who'll show up to your presentation or read your
proposal. Knowing who they are and how to deal with them is core to a positive
outcome.
Let's break these down and look at each component:
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FROM CUSTOMERS TO FANS: BREAKDOWN OF THE MARKET
Size Who are they? Role
Fans 10% of the market Employees, co-
workers, vocal
customers who "get
it" and love the
product
Key influencers,
advocates and
educators. Focus
on breaking down
the walls to help
Fans tell their story
and broadcast to
the customer base.
Commit all your
energy to the Fans
and leverage their
lines of influence to
shape the market.
Observers 20% Silent Fans who are
to be convinced that
going public with
their affections or
ideas is a good idea
The bridge between
Fans and the mass
market. 2nd wave
of adopters
Skeptics 50% The silent majority
who are easily
swayed one way or
the other
Skeptics only come
on board when the
Social Proof from
Fans and
Observers is strong
enough to de-risk
any change in
behavior.
Critics 20% The vocal
opposition. The
"Yes, buts". The
naysayers
Critics will continue
to fiercely oppose
any change,
product or
technology simply
because their
position of
opposition gives
them significance.
Do not waste
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energy to convert
the Critic. Focus
energies on those
that matter and use
the mass market to
silence the critic.
1. FANS (THE CHANGE AGENTS)
10% of the market are “change agents”.
They “get it”.
The change agent is your own Fan.
She sings your praises to her boss.
She sponsors your presentation in front of the team and you need to turn up and
make sure you haven’t blown their reputation out of the water.
You need to help her convince her boss that she’s doing the right thing.
They are sold on your idea and need you to help them sell this message
internally. By declaring yourself you have planted a flag for them to rally round and
join the dots with other likeminds. Your role for these guys is to give this project
life, give it a name and give them ammunition to make that internal sale.
2. OBSERVERS (SILENT FANS)
Observers see the importance of change and are willing to get behind a project.
What’s stopping them is that they don’t have the self belief of the Fan and are
afraid of change.
Your role isn’t to convince the Observer of the need to change it’s to empower
the Fan to lead these Observers into change.
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3. SKEPTICS (THE SHEEP)
Skeptics turn up rather unwillingly to your presentations.
“Let’s hear what he has to say”.
You are an obstruction and an added cost in their daily work life.
You are telling them about change when they just want to get on with their job.
Everything you are suggesting is an obstruction to getting that job done.
Unlike critics, skeptics are less vocal.
Skeptics tend to look to those on the either side of them for social proof.
Skeptics will have difficulty joining the dots between the relevance of a soda brand
and their own line of Bluetooth headsets.
The Skeptic is so drilled in the operations of their business that anything outside of
their box is irrelevant. But ultimately, if you give them too much of your time, your
case becomes bogged down in a defensive argument that gives the Critics too
much credibility.
Skeptics will come across to your idea only when they are forced and this is not
your remit.
Skeptics follow when the metrics that turn up in their quarterly review align with
your own objectives not when they are asked to think about the long term
prospects of the brand.
Unlike the critics they will comply but the switch to flip isn’t your own, that relies
on having enough internal momentum within the company to implement long term
strategies and metrics that compel Skeptics to change.
4. CRITICS (THE YES BUTS)
On the opposite pole of acceptance there are the critics.
Critics are not worth your time or energy.
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Do not waste your energy trying to convert them or counter their arguments.
The critic sits in your presentation with folded arms, leaning back in his chair. In
response to your every sentence he says “yeah, but…”
The most effective argument to deal with a critic in a presentation is simply to say
“well, that’s up to you. I’m just here to present the evidence, not to try and tell
you what to think.”
Critics don't come to your presentation to learn, but to score points.
“Show me the case study evidence” they’ll say and when you feel you have
convinced them with your data, they’ll move the goalposts.
You can never win over critics.
Critics are the pigs.
Critics are a black hole of energy. They are psychic vampires feeding off their
antagonism.
When you deliver a compelling case, he goes quiet, retreats into his world of
cynicism and prepares to unleash a tirade of snide remarks and criticisms when
he’s alone with the team out of earshot.
When interacting with the critic, your conversation should be mindful of how your
case appears to the observers because it is them you want to win over, not the
critic.
AFTER THE PRESENTATION
After you’ve delivered your presentation or your project, after you’ve inspired
their team with your presentation about Fans, business life goes back to “normal”.
All your ideas about selling technology are forgotten.
When the subject of daily conversation turns to how we meet this quarter’s key
performance indicators, business switches back to its urgency. Your great ideas
fade into history.
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It’s in this daily dynamic that your work will be forgotten by Skeptics, Critics and
Observers but still carried by the Fans.
It’s in these daily dynamics that you need to empower those Fans with the right
stories to affect change on the Observers.
Fans need ammunition.
You are the supplier.
Your job isn’t to go round these brands and evangelize the cause; your job’s
simply to plant a flag for those who already get it to find their home.
It may be the head of retail, the loyalty manager and a group of interns that you
are connecting the dots with.
They all “get it” and have seen it with their own eyes but without you to bring
them together there exists no force outside of these organizational confines that
can join the dots.
KNOW WHEN TO DOUBLE DOWN AND WHEN TO FOLD
If you’re sitting in a meeting and your client or team are ganging up against you
with a thousand “yes buts” and there are no Fans in the room who are banging
the drum for the cause, you are sitting in the wrong meeting.
Quit the meeting.
Fold.
Trying to convince the team that this is the right thing to do is a heartless task that
will result in unnecessary grief and stress.
If you’re coming out of client or team meetings rattled and stressed you’re in the
wrong place. Better off planting a flag elsewhere and attracting those people to
you.
You don’t have years to burn pushing this stuff up hill so why waste your talents
on those who don’t deserve it?
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Double down with those that come to you asking for more.
Help them set up a company newsletter, an ad-hoc team, a discussion group, an
event or a project that can unite people.
Help them join the dots.
You don’t need to seek permission to make it happen.
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(Graham Brown mobileYouth) Don’t Teach a Pig to Sing: Why you should master the internal sale first when selling technology

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(Graham Brown mobileYouth) Don’t Teach a Pig to Sing: Why you should master the internal sale first when selling technology