Grow From Here

I’m sure most people hold this truth to be self-evident: that technology is not always the solution.  Let me repeat that – technology is not always the solution.  And yes, I am the CEO of a technology company.  But before you even worry about your technology, you want to nail two key questions:

a) What am I trying to accomplish?

b) What do I have to offer?  What’s my value?

What am I trying to accomplish?

I recently met with Bob Garlick (a marketing mentor) for coffee, and he asked what makes our company different from other companies.  The answer was easy; we use technology to further business purposes and when we meet with clients, what we want to know first is what kind of business purpose they are trying to accomplish – not what technology they are looking for. 

After all, most franchisors and business owners don’t care much about the underlying technology – what matters is whether the final solution accomplishes the right purpose; be it increasing sales, generating leads or building the brand.  When clients know the answer to this question before we ask it, we know that they will be a pleasure to work with.

If you are looking at developing/purchasing any kind of software solution, make sure you know what you’re trying to accomplish with the software.  That answer will form the basis of how you evaluate and rate potential solutions that are presented to you.  If you don’t have that, it’s easy to get caught up in the latest cool thing (if you’re a technology person) or the most features (if you want to have lots of options later) or the best marketing materials.  But none of those help much if your core need is not being addressed.

What do I have to offer?  What’s my value?

Just the other day, I signed up for a webinar.  It was offered by a reputable organization, and the topic looked good.  The content was dreadful; lacking substance, poorly thought out, and delivered in a soft meandering voice.  Having recently had conversations with a couple of clients about webinar delivery, I was struck again that even if the technology is all great, if the content is lacking, the webinar won’t build business – and in fact, may drive it away.  I would certainly not want to do business with the person who hosted that webinar.

Content creation and generation is one of the best ways to add value to customers, but it needs to be substantive first, and then delivered professionally second.

So remember, before you even think about the technology, know what you’re trying to accomplish, and know what you have to offer in terms of value.  Once you have those two, the technology will be easy…

Katryn Best Practices, Business Growth, Communication, Technology