The Bottom Line Vine

Drive New Product Adoption

The obvious way to validate the viability of a new technology or product requires a simple strategy: create critical mass in the market through “accelerated deal flow”.  Reinforcing this approach, VizQuest emphasizes that the core market development strategy at this point is indeed “deal-driven”.

This seems like a simple concept, so, what’s the problem?  Why do so many companies struggle with driving adoption of new products and services?  If you have a sufficiently attractive – and disruptive – innovation to bring to the table, surely it is indeed a question of “just” going out and closing a deal with a willing customer (and this is the fatal flaw…trivializing sales of new products).  In working with some of the World’s leading software companies, I experienced significant difficulties to make this strategy work.

At VizQuest, we engage with many companies who are challenged in early market customer capture. Proof that Early Market adoption is far from being a trivial feat.  Therefore, I want to examine in some detail the principal traps and how companies can avoid them. At least five potentially critical dangers lie in wait for unsuspecting companies, the first of which I shall address here:

Not Knowing How and Why the Customer Will Buy: Companies tend to act as if this is a time to sell to as many customers as possible, in order to build a reference list that will impress later adopters.  The typical approach is “pimp-my-product” marketing…lots of advertising, events, calls and emails into every company that has a pulse….minimal focus and no real understanding of why the customer would spend money on the product.  Unfortunately, by not segmenting the market and treating all comers as “early adopters”, they end up with the worst possible compromise:

1.)they get involved in extended sales cycles with mainly hesitant customers who end up requesting custom enhancements in return for small “pilot” contracts that take ages to close;

2.) they end up negotiating ugly deals that are unprofitable and lower the sales transaction value;

3.) they waste significant resources, money and time on prospects and leads that look attractive, but will never buy  – they are only appearing to be interested because some desperate marketing or sales person coerced them into a demo or webinar.

In cases where companies do attract a bona-fide visionary customer, they are often unsure how to manage the opportunity.  Thus, they jump through technical hoops to satisfy the customer’s aggressive requirements, but fail to get compensated for the value they deliver.  Assuming for a moment your company does have a solution that is adoptable – i.e., a disruptive solution that delivers rapid value to business in a significantly new way – then the main objectives are to prove (a) that the new category is indeed a hot one, and (b) that you are a player with leadership potential. The best way of achieving these goals is to find a few big company-making deals with visible customers who are willing to take a risk on your technology.  They believe it can garner for them a real and dramatic competitive advantage and have the financial strength to invest in this spend-thrift economic environment.

I will be delivering the other 4 key factors in New Product Adoption in follow on blog posts…please check in to Bottom Line Vine to learn more, or to comment.

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