Raise your hand if you’ve ever been told, or have perhaps uttered, the phrase “This technology will sell itself.” Now, raise your other hand if things didn’t exactly turn out that way. Ironically, the surrender position you have likely assumed resembles the frustration and bewilderment of many an entrepreneur who believed their innovation would do just that.
There are many reasons why technology does not “sell itself” when taken to market, some of which relate to the technology itself, others attributable to the business behind it. But there is one which, in my opinion, stands out above all others as simultaneously obvious and flabbergasting: If new technology is half as innovative as its developer would have you believe, then there is really no way for the marketplace to value it and allow it to “sell itself.”
I will let that sink in for a moment, then reiterate: The more innovative and groundbreaking technology is, the more difficult it is for the market to place a value on it that would allow it to sell itself on autopilot.
So, your technology won’t sell itself, but what does that mean? Likely, it means you are better at developing technology than marketing it. If you are experiencing the frustration of a marketplace that “doesn’t get it” or “doesn’t see the value,” and your technology does, in fact, offer meaningful relief of some problem, then the fundamental premise on which your value proposition is built is probably flawed.
Great. So what? So, you are posing the wrong question to yourself. Rather than wracking your brain asking why customers do not see the value, ask yourself what it costs customers to forego your technology. If the answer is: “well, nothing really” then you’re probably in the wrong business. However, if you are able to develop a list of “costs” that your customers experience on an ongoing basis by not adopting your product then you finally have a value proposition! Keep in mind that we are using a more creative definition of “costs” than your accountant, such as reducible overhead, missed sales opportunities, or excessive equipment wear and tear, but that’s what entrepreneurs do; they get creative.
At this point, assigning a value (and, by extension, price) to your product is easy and you can take it to market far more effectively. If your software reduces overhead by $500,000 per year for your customer, or your algorithm increases revenue by 25%, there is a very distinct value associated with your innovation. The important thing to remember is that your customer is buying that value, not your innovation.
Value, unlike technology, does sell itself, but it takes considerable work to fully comprehend how and where that value takes form. This is why working with innovative entrepreneurs is so exciting; it allows me to help brilliant people unlock previously unrecognized value in their innovations and open up worlds of opportunity for themselves and their customers.
Dan Palay is a Chicago-based consultant, specializing in marketing and business development for early-stage and business service companies. Please feel free to contact at [email protected].
