This blog is about a fascinating story of *Alex ( a telecommunication product manager ) who makes a product successful by not selling it to the big boys ( the most powerful organisations)
Alex joined a telecommunication company as a product manager. In his new role he was tasked to manage a new product and his boss said, ” Alex, wouldn’t it be great if we sold this to the big boys in the government sector! You don’t have to worry about getting appointments because I have a great connections in the Govt sector and I will get you all the meetings you need”.
Alex was thrilled. Next thing he knows, he and his boss are being entertained by who’s who in government.15- 20 people would attend his presentations and everybody loved what he had to say. Everything was going great, until one day, 4 months later Alex realised that he has been presenting and everybody has been loving the product but nobody was buying it.
What is going on?
Alex says,” when I looked at all the meetings I had had with the big boys and I asked myself why would they buy this product and how exactly can this help them ? I couldn’t answer that question. The product was really designed for SMEs”.
Alex thought to himself , ” This can’t go on. My first 6 months targets are not achieved and I am concerned.
He tried hard to understand the product and came to a conclusion, ” I think this product is for SMEs’ and that is the mistake I am making in selling it. ”
Alex went and approached a potential SME who saw the value of the product but was not able to make the payment upfront. Alex’s initial thought was if I can’t get payment from the customer I can’t sell it. This product is for no one. SMEs can’t afford it, big boys see no value in it.
However, after a bit of thinking, Alex came up with installment payment scheme for the SMEs. The product was successfully used and took off with other SMEs too.
Alex ends this story by saying.. having clarity on who the product is for is important but even more important is working out how can I make it easy for them to work with us.
And selling to the big boys is not the right way to be all the time.
If you have a product and you are clear about the target market. Can you think how to make it easy for your customers to work with you?
A successful Product Storytelling will only happen if you can say – I know my customer + I have made it easy for them to acquire my product.
* Alex is not his real name
"I attended your story telling course some time back. And I've enjoyed keeping up my knowledge with your blog. You may not have realised however, that the Whole of Government is implementing Internet Seperation. Hence I'm not able to access the links to read your articles. Could I suggest including a QR code in your emails so that I can use my mobile to scan it and gain immediate access to the article? It would be most helpful"
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