It's not just about the technology

As a consultant (and one-time technical sales person) at IBM, it was drilled into me from an early age that businesses don't buy cool.

Woe betide you if you don't know your audience. You don't pitch ethereal business value to a geek and you don't EVER pitch "neat" technology to a line of business executive. Know your audience. This becomes second nature after a while.... you always check with the local team who the intended audience is and you make sure your presentation or workshop or round table is designed for them. If they're paying for your time, give them value for money. If you're trying to sell them something, don't insult them or waste their time talking about things they don't care about.

This is just one aspect of knowing your market. Never make the mistake of pitching the list of features and functions. Who cares? Tell me how it helps me solve my problems.

With this in mind, I found Don Doge's latest post on being an entrepreneur in the tech space eye opening. What he says is spot on... this guy obviously gets it. But the posting heartened me on another level.... if he needs to tell people this stuff, perhaps there's a chance for me after all :-)