A common belief among IT experts is that only tech gurus have the knowledge to sell disaster recovery and other managed services. But the reality is that all it takes is natural sales talent to sell almost anything. No matter how technical, you merely need enough product knowledge to answer customer questions about your services. Here's all the evidence you'll need to debunk the tech geek sales myth.
Executive Ignorance of Geek Speak
Chances are when you pitch data backup and disaster recovery plan services, you will be meeting with company decision makers. But that doesn't mean they have a deep understanding of tech jargon. Many executives rely on their IT consultants for that expertise and are more concerned about focusing on their business agendas that they do understand.
Believe it or not, most business managers of all levels only have minimal knowledge of technological advancements and don't want to be bombarded with tech jargon. It's actually better if you send in sales people who are great communicators and can easily reach common ground with anyone they meet. After all, regardless of profession, sales people and company leaders still have many things in common: they're human, strive for clarity and enjoy success.
Clear Communication Matters Most
You should be very careful how you use tech jargon, if at all. Always remember not to take for granted that every executive understands the following technical terms:
- backup, data and recovery (BDR)
- patch deployment
- redundant networks
- encrypted off-site storage
- Dependable SafeStore (DSS)
- hybrid cloud solutions
- server co-location
These may all be familiar terms to IT professionals, but the common person who has no technology background isn't likely to completely comprehend these terms. But if your sales pro can clearly define each of these phrases in an easy-to-understand manner, then the executive won't be embarrassed to hide his or her lack of knowledge about them. Server co-location, for example, can easily be explained as sharing a server with a cloud provider, which paints an instant picture of security and efficiency instead of a possible blur.
