In a world of consumer and enterprise application proliferation, stakeholders vetting new technology for their teams are faced with a daunting volume of tech evaluations and RFPs that seem to have no end in sight. In the midst of this technology explosion, tech companies and their CEOs are vying for what they think are the best salespeople to pitch their products and squeeze their way into the Disneys, News Corps, and National Geographics of the world.
But these companies are looking for the wrong profile of salesperson to land these deals. It’s not the person who’s been on a rocket ship and been along for the ride who’s going to help you, and it’s not the best salesperson from X unicorn company. It’s most definitely not anyone who claims they never missed a quarter.
It’s a much different profile and when interfacing with companies who are early adopters of Dropbox and Slack, the decision makers at these organizations are looking not for salespeople, but for technologists who see meaningful trends happening today. We’ve made it a point to ask our clients what it is that sold them throughout the buying process and it’s always been about access to technology vision and not about a slick sales process. The VP of Collaboration at NBCUniversal needed someone to understand the risks of innovation when introducing Dropbox to the entire company in 2014, and not just an enterprise sales motion.
It’s not the person who’s been on a rocket ship and been along for the ride who’s going to help you and it’s not the best salesperson from X unicorn company.
So what does it mean to be a technologist in sales?
- It means thinking deliberately and thoughtfully about how your platform or tool fits into large paradigm shifts in technology, not pitching your solution at all costs. As “recently” as 2011, the Dropbox shared link disrupted our thinking around file sharing but now it’s a given that you share a file with a click of a button. Just two years ago Slack was widely regarded as “just a chat application” but now is an integral collaboration tool for many enterprises. Today, tech companies are adding inbox productivity to their roadmaps to ensure easy workflows are possible without ever having to leave Gmail. But paradigm shifts are happening at a rapid pace and while not obvious at the time, they have implications 2–3 years from now. How is your solution part of a massive movement in technology and can you convey the change in technology landscape as it’s happening?
- It means understanding the lingo that technology leaders use. Do you know what SIEM stands for and why Splunk is a Gartner Magic Quadrant leader? Are you aware of IAM solutions like Okta and their implications for access management? Can you chat about the missing enterprise integrations for your platform while at the same time looking for creative work arounds? To become a technologist we need to speak like technologists and that comes with living and breathing their world. How are you spending time studying IT concepts and digging deep into the ecosystem of tools that are everyday topics for the tech leaders you are pitching?
- Lastly and perhaps most importantly, it means having passion for what you do and being OK with moving on from buyers who just don’t get it. As part of understanding that your platform is introducing new paradigms in technology, you need to get comfortable with the reality that some buyers and IT leaders won’t be on board. That’s OK because technology shifts happen when most aren’t looking and the early innovators will become technology leaders thanks to their foresight (shout out to NBCU and News Corp adopting Dropbox and Spotify adopting Streak). And if your product isn’t the right fit at a given point in time, having that knowledge is important to moving on. Have confidence in your passion and embrace the disruption.
This is turning into a bit of an open letter to tech CEOs and sales folks with a couple messages: If you’re a tech CEO don’t just go for the shiny unicorn company salesperson who went along for the ride.
Look for that passion in technology and someone who can relate to tech stakeholders while talking about paradigm shifts. If you’re what we call a “tech salesperson”, unleash your inner fire for all things tech-related because if you don’t, you’ll be outsold by the next generation of technologists and BANT won’t cut it.
