Why you should stop pitching your tech to prospects; it is only distracting you from actual sales.

How often have we heard these pitches?

We are a SaaS solution for recruitment. We use big data to map social signals get you the right candidate.

We are a SaaS solution for lead generation, that uses big data.

In Customer’s mind: so how does it help me?

The conversation quickly turns to something about your product.

So, how is your algorithm better?

Why should I pay a subscription fee for profiles, instead of positions filled?

And the list of questions that lead us elsewhere is endless. You probably had a great conversation with customer but no conversion, yet.

That conversation about how special is your algorithm, technology, business model just goes on. You excitedly explain all the questions.

They learn more to pitch this internally & convince themselves why they should choose your solution.

But guess what?

They are already working with 10 other recruitment consultants to fill positions.

But no SaaS solution in recruitment space, except may be LinkedIn.

They need to make an exception & convincing themselves why their life will be better with your solution.

We are all guilty of drinking too much of our own kool-aid and obsess about the technology.

What the customer really cares about is their problem and if you can solve it better.

If you were to pitch yourself as recruitment consultant, you will already be on their service providers list, as a eleventh one.

You are already in.

Then prove that your technology is better by filling candidates faster, better. Get to their top 3 list.

Was speaking with friends at our recent founders meetup in Chennai (#filterkaapi) and the founder of Piqube, Jayadev, shared this interesting experience he had about pitching his solution and how it transformed his sales.

By positioning his service as recruitment consultant he could get a foot in the door instantly without having to define how his solution worked. They are obsessed about tech. Don’t get me wrong. But by positioning it differently in conversation you draw a simple parallel and close a sale. Then they get a chance prove that their decision is right with a better solution.

It is important to draw a simple parallel (solution that customer is familiar with) and keep the pricing simple with familiar models.

Introducing a new solution is hard enough. Innovating on business model as well, is even harder.

Your Customer does not really care about how cool is your technology. The coolness is another reason to believe in your vision & be associated with your brand. Use that to keep them and get bragging rights.

But there are solutions where selling the technology and “why you” part is essential before selling your solution.

Take any infrastructure like AWS, Rackspace, Twilio, Stripe or even our own solution, Chargebee. We first sell peace of mind & trust that we care about security, scalabilty & providing a robust platform.

Even if you are building a cheaper better infrastructure solution than AWS folks want to know why you are building it. And why are you the right person to build it. These questions are necessary to understand the credentials and why they should care about your service.

So getting introduced through authentic channels is important part of the deal. The look & feel of website, pricing, team, the email interactions; everything matters. But these signals are useful only to get to know you better and why they should trust you.

When it comes to choosing the solution the technology should take a backseat. The discussion should be about problem and the solution.

I think, understanding the marketing & sales aspect of product vs. the actual service is very important to do it better.

Cheers.