Challenges of Marketing Cutting Edge Technology

Twinning Strategy invited Steve Swann  of TandemAI for our 5/24 Episode to tackle the topic of marketing high tech solutions in traditional industries. Steve emphasized a common thread we find in many of our topics, it is the human relationship and connection that ultimately leads to the productive conversation. Steve honed in on an experience that resonates for me, that of the shift that scientific pitching causes for those of us who started off as hands-on lab or engineering 'nerds'. On the one hand, the scientist as sales person/business developer, brings credibility to the  pitch. On the other, it isn't what we are used to, i.e. a shift from data-driven decision making to the psychological realm of what is the best way to motivate your product and educate the prospective customer. That common thread again, we need to listen, and let go of our 'geeking out' or over-pitching of our capabilities based on 'throwing up' case studies and laundry lists of technical details that might feel like they are what people want to hear,  but are actually way off topic. Steve's analogy, we risk pitching every car on the lot when the client came in for a Jeep. 

Steve also ponders a question that a contact of his had surveyed, i.e.  why hasn't AI taken over the whole (drug discovery) industry yet? A key problem, people don't always understand what the technology is, how it relates to the problem they are solving, and how to gauge its success. Inevitably, new technology means taking a risk and changing how to think about a problem. Our often 'dominance'-driven business culture in the U.S. means looking good for your boss and self-preservation drives our decision-making (I'm reading Matthew Syed's Rebel Ideas) far more than the promise of a (perhaps unlikely) success. We have a tendency to retreat to the safety blanket of the tried-and-true, even when that approach produces the terrible 1/100 program success rate of the biotech/pharma pipeline. Furthermore, we give up at the first sign of trouble (the notorious one-and-done mentality) and toss out all innovation out under even moderate financial or resource stress regardless of technology driven potential.

What can be done to enable productive  conversations? Steve and the TS team proposed several ideas:

• Provide well-considered education touch points--seminars, webinars, articles--which educate the user in the context of the problem you solve and the benefits the technology brings
• Offer assessment as a loss leader or low-cost initial step. You need the insight into how the prospective buyer's team thinks, what their internal politics look like, where the technology will really hit home. Why not get that knowledge while making a low stakes trade-off of assessing the clients technology readiness?
• Show prospective client leaders--finance and general leadership--how the new technology can impact their bottom line, e.g  the web-based cost calculators Elena points to in the podcast
• Understand the audience including the fear of failure, and the politics they face. Help them to justify the risk to themselves, their leadership, and their team.