Why Tech Companies Fail

For every successful technology breakthrough or great app we find many more never make it. Why do you think this is?

Some were never meant to become mainstream. Some are just improvements or utilities that save us keystrokes. But for every successful technology company, there are many that crash and burn. Companies fail for a variety of reasons. Most often it’s lack of funding, but poor management, shifts in consumer behavior, and timing are also reasons companies fail.

One of the most common issues for technology companies is that they talk technology, not sales. They know how to code and build something new, but they often have trouble transferring that knowledge into a compelling story that leads to a purchase.

Effective communication does not guarantee success, but being able to effectively communicate will go far in helping you succeed and it will fill your sales pipeline with qualified prospects. A challenge for many technology companies is the ability to translate features into benefits.

Think Benefits, Not Features

Features are the language we use internally to describe parts of our product or service (one-and-done support calls) or the part of code you are working on. Unfortunately, features do not beget sales. Benefits do. Customers don’t buy features, they buy the benefits they get from using a particular feature (peace of mind knowing my support issues will be handled in one phone call).

Benefits are the language of your customers and you must master the customers language if you want to make sales. That keyboard utility is a feature that eliminates additional keystrokes. The benefit to the user is that it saves time.

An Educated Consumer is Your Best Customer

Today, buyers want to be educated. When you educate them in terms they understand they become empowered to make better choices. When you teach them that your hardware or software solution is the most likely to address their daily problems – that it will increase profitability, save them time, or make them more efficient or competitive — you have taken a significant step towards building a relationship that will lead to a purchase.

When you provide timely and relevant information, you educate potential customers about what your software does, how it does it and why it is better for them. You explain how it addresses their pain points, and why your company offers the best solution. Over time, you raise your own company’s profile and position yourself as a thought leader in your field (more on that next week).

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Take Control

Buyers today are eager to research, investigate and learn as much as possible about a product or service before purchasing it — but they don’t want to earn an additional bachelor’s degree in order to understand what their new technology purchase will do. To use an example from consumer products, most buyers are less interested about the particular processor in an electronic tablet than whether they can watch a movie on an airplane or stream their favorite show while commuting on the train.

Learn how Inbound can help you educate your potential customers, improve your marketing ROI and provide more leads for less money.  Check out the charts from the State of Inbound Marketing Report.