Technology Vendor Buyer's Journey

It’s often quite difficult for new companies to crack in to the Top-50 Technology companies. And for those of us who are already “in,” it’s difficult to consistently stay on their radar; particularly across their many regions, teams, verticals, and products. This group is bombarded with content from so many places that they just can’t filter through it all. I’ve fairly recently been on the receiving end of “out-of-office” emails that state fairly definitively “I’m only going to check my email on Tuesdays. If you are emailing me for something urgent you’ll have to reach out to me some other way.” The other way, incidentally, is not provided.

What's a company to do?

Answer: Conduct a technology vendor buyer’s journey to really understand the back-office ways that these companies approach their vendors, and decide on what products, services, and solutions they need from outside their organizations.

The buyer path for the technology client is actually pretty clear. Unfortunately, the entry point for those that aren’t already engaged (getting their attention initially), is not always clear or easy. One of the slides that we put together on our technology vendor buyer's journey is found below. I’d encourage you to put together one of your own. This is done by organizing a highly structured and guided conversation that helps you understand how your clients identify their vendors; processes they use, sites they search, people they talk to, etc. Execute on the conversation, process the information into a formal way, and then map it out. From there you can see what’s best for your organization and how you can most effectively gain entry to the technology company you’re interested in.

The next time you’re looking to get the attention of one of the big technology vendors, here are a few suggestions we uncovered in our technology vendor buyer’s journey that we found extremely helpful and think would be helpful to you.

• Segment: Understand the types of buyer you are trying to get ahold of within the top 50 technology companies. A blanket blast to an enormous group is just going to frustrate people. Target the stakeholders that fall within your niche, and be prepared to show how your experience aligns, well, to their particular part of the organization. As much as you’d like to think it does, your company doesn’t actually serve the needs of every employee role within the company. There are particular segments that you’ll do better with than others. Understand who they are, embrace them, know their needs, and find your products and solutions to their pain points.

• Execute like your life depends on it: We have long held the hypothesis that the number one way of expanding your sales reach within technology companies are referrals. Our technology buyer journey research supported this hypothesis. Given that fact, when you’re first provided with an opportunity, execute like your life depends on it. Your life may NOT depend on it, but the future of your relationship with the organization does depend on your ability to perform well and have your stakeholders refer you to their coworkers.

• Measure the experience: How do you understand whether they’ll refer you to others? Measure the program or project experience they’re having with your organization. I’d suggest using Net Promoter (NPS). This is a measurement that tells you their “likelihood to recommend to a friend or coworker.” The more likely they are to recommend your company, the greater the probability of increased revenue within the organization from referrals. Particularly early on, you can really stub your toe by not executing cleanly. Measurements like this help you to understand what needs to be fixed, or what positive experiences can be leveraged, to increase probability of revenue going forward.

[if gte vml 1]><v:rect id="rectole0000000000" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" style='width:449.4pt;height:252.6pt' o:ole="" o:preferrelative="t" stroked="f"> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\shanson\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.png" o:title=""></v:imagedata> </v:rect><![endif][if !vml][endif][if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OLEObject Type="Embed" ProgID="StaticMetafile" ShapeID="rectole0000000000" DrawAspect="Content" ObjectID="_1563792188"> </o:OLEObject> </xml><![endif]A technology vendor buyer’s journey will help you do that. For many years, bChannels has worked with technology companies and OEM on their buyer’s journey and their routes to market, particularly as it relates to technology channels and technology channel marketing. We decided to practice what we preached and do this for ourselves. We didn’t find anything “earth-shattering” but we did find a number of alignments and tweaks that will help us sell to them and meet their needs more effective. I’m sure you’ll do the same.

If you’re just trying to crack in to one of these groups for the first time, conduct a journey on your current clients and evaluate how the findings would apply to the technology OEM; then apply the principles you learn. If you’re already involved with technology companies, the content will definitely guide and improve your process. If you’re a technology vendor or OEM who needs one of these for your customers or partners: reach out to us; we can help. We’ve been at it for many years and can add some value to your process.

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