Feature Story
How Your Business Can Choose the Right Technology Steve Jobs had this to say about technology. “You have to start with the customer experience and work backward to the technology. “(Asking) what incredible benefits can we give to the customer?” Somewhere in your customer experience there are gaps that can be closed with the right technology. To determine which will have the greatest impact on your business, look no further than earning the trust of leads, prospects, and customers.
Align Technology with Your Customer Experience
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usinesses nowadays are compelled to adopt technology solutions to keep up appearances, to be a recognized member of the club. It may well be necessary to attract and keep top talent. Fortunately, it’s never been easier to fit new technology solutions into the budget. The problem is technology can eat away at your most valuable resource – time. The test drive alone is often a significant commitment. Before you know it your free trial runs out. Not long after that you stop using it, but of course, you keep paying because your intention is to eventually make it to work. Sound familiar? Don’t get guilted into trying every platform or piece of software that people rave about. Instead, listen to your customers. Here’s why.
Ask Where Technology Can Add Value For Customers
Most customers will never know what goes on behind the scenes to make those beautiful lawns and landscapes that give them so much enjoyment. The truth is most probably don’t care either. What they do care about is what they experience, discovering, acquiring and enjoying those solutions. A segment of that overall experience is the sales process. • • •
Does your business have a written sales process? Does it consistently follow all of the steps? Does it share that process with its customers?
Many companies cannot answer yes to all three of these questions. As a result, they are ill-equipped to choose a CRM that fits their sales culture.
16 FALL | 2018
Design fees proved to be a chronic obstacle with our landscape customers. So, we did exactly what Steve Jobs suggested, walking our process all the way back to our first point of contact. We smoothed out our talking points to help people understand the value of our design process. Nowadays we can have that conversation in advance with websites, social media, and other content marketing tools. But here’s the thing. Your customer experience may not call for a fancy website. And your business may choose to forego social media completely. The point is there is no perfect technology platform or tool. However, there are thousands technology solutions that when paired with your customer experience will move it closer to ideal, to perfection. The key is to first design the ideal experience and compare it to your current reality. • • • • •
How should the buyer’s journey ideally start? What are buyers’ typical mindsets? What is the desired path that will best serve them? What might trip someone up? How can you remove those fears and obstacles?
You probably know where you are coming up short, but to be certain, talk to customers one-to-one to get their input. Now you are ready to find what works.
Prioritize Decision Making Criteria Before Buying
Decision criteria are unique to each and every buyer. Develop a decision criteria template that will make short work of the evaluation process. Here’s my short list. • • • • •
Reasonable price and payment terms Free trial and onboarding Provider’s company culture aligns with ours Consistent user experience across devices Timely customer communication and support
