In my last introduction, I mentioned the state of technology sales and marketing. Although I am unaware of much being written about this topic, I strongly recommend Justin Roff-Marsh’s books “An Ode to Speed” and “The Machine.” I am convinced that if industry leaders implemented the principles in these books, we could fundamentally transform how we support customers and finally get back to doing what sales and field applications engineering (FAE) teams are supposed to do: serve customers.
As a customer, you may be wondering what happened to the support you once had, or wish you had. Where did it go?
It was never perfect, but a few decades ago you could at least get someone to bring you a databook, provide samples, or help with a design. Today, we have the internet, email, video conferencing, websites, online design tools, and virtually unlimited communications technology. You would expect customer support to now be dramatically better, but it isn’t.
So, what happened?
At many suppliers, the best that can be done is to send a push email to a mailing list announcing new products. The industry is too distracted to do much more. And while technology has advanced at a blazing pace, it’s usually not used to support customers. Instead, it is being used for data collection, reports, metrics, dashboards, CRM systems, and justification tracking. It’s all about financial accounting now.
Technology has increased exponentially. Customer support hasn’t. There is also a belief that if something isn’t measured and tracked, it doesn’t exist. If an engineer designs with your product but there is no salesperson there to register the opportunity in a CRM system and track it, did the design actually happen?
Apparently not. Instead, everything must have a cause-and-effect measurement attached to it. The resulting behavior: salespeople, FAEs, representatives, and distributors spend enormous amounts of time documenting activity rather than creating value for customers. My ongoing informal survey ranges from 50-85% (let’s say 68% average) of field staff time now is internally focused -an insane amount!
Consider something as simple as requesting a sample. You’ll probably have to explain your application to “marketing,” where your opportunity will be qualified and tracked. If someone, possibly in a far-off land, doesn’t like your answers, the samples may never arrive. Perhaps you’re not the target market. Maybe the projected volumes aren’t large enough. Guess wrong, and you’re out. Or perhaps someone insists on having a meeting before giving you what you need.
Why? Because you are valuable, not necessarily as a customer, but as a source of information that can be entered into a tracking system and used to justify someone’s compensation.
Distribution has also gotten crazy with its processes; opportunities must be “registered” for people to get paid on sales. Consequently, distributors spend more time tracking opportunities and less time actually supporting customers.
Some major customers have restricted the information that can flow between them and suppliers. You may get a code name; you may get nothing. Clearly, they don’t want to be tracked. They have said no! What a waste of time.
The CRM problem
CRM systems have “customer” in their name, yet they have little to do with supporting customers. They have become systems for collecting information used inside suppliers for who knows what.
This data addiction has turned customer meetings into interrogations: What is the project’s name? Where will it be built? Which contract manufacturer will you use? What’s the expected annual usage? What’s the run rate? What’s the forecast? When will production begin? Where were you last Tuesday night between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.? –i.e., you’re asked to provide a ridiculous amount of information, and it all has to go into the CRM!
No wonder engineers increasingly order parts from DigiKey or Mouser just to be left alone. At least nobody is going to interrogate them about their project, and the parts will show up.
The irony is that despite all this tracking, we capture a fraction of what actually happens in the market, and much of the information we do capture isn’t even accurate. People provide whatever answers are necessary to get what they need while getting suppliers off their backs—or else it’s simply not measurable.
Fix the system
For over two decades, many corporate sales and marketing organizations have become increasingly disconnected from the reality of how engineers actually work. Today, too many meetings are about the supplier’s insatiable need for data, not the customer. As a result, engineers have learned to avoid supplier meetings.
You would think suppliers would recognize this, investigate why, and fix the problem. Instead, in today’s corporate world, they often double down and continue doing more of what isn’t working. When customers refuse to take meetings, they are often forced to comply by having information, samples, or support withheld until they accept an invitation.
The predictable result is that we increase the probability that the customer will simply choose another supplier. We are driving customers away even though we have almost complete control over what needs to be done.
Finance and operations have taken over; the problem is suboptimization, lack of experience, too much emphasis on metrics and outdated compensation plans, and organizations that reward the wrong behavior. Many “leaders” have never been engineering customers or worked as engineers, yet they are making decisions about how design engineers should be supported. Add to all this a new generation of engineers who typically prefer minimal interaction, and the problem becomes even worse.
For suppliers, I would offer a simple challenge: to do better. Here are my suggestions:
- Make your organization about the customer. Customers are not a line item on a spreadsheet. They are relationships that can take years to cultivate and minutes to lose. Customers don’t necessarily need another supplier meeting. They need fast answers, samples, engineering support, useful information and someone who understands what they are trying to accomplish.
- Look for help, such as reading the books I recommended and implementing their principles, rather than simply creating another dashboard and tracking more useless information.
- Get off the addiction to data. Stop spending enormous amounts of your field organization’s time on internally focused activities that are inaccurate and/or don’t impact on the customers choosing your parts.
- Learn how to market high-technology products properly and learn how to listen. Your FAEs are a good source of common sense; listen to them, instead of telling them to complete yet another report nobody does anything with.
Let’s focus on customers again
Customers, you also play a role in getting things back on track. Although suppliers say they need more data, they don’t. Remember, that’s just the data addiction talking. It might be tough love, but just say no to data interrogations and tell them when their processes are getting in the way. And, finally, insist on the share of their time you really need: 98+% on you and <2% on administration.
I plan to write more about technology sales, marketing, and customer support in our industry. If you have experienced this from either side of the table, tell us your story.
Let’s start a conversation.