You talkin' to me?

Over the last 30 days, I've had the pleasure of attending 3 events that highlighted terrific new entrepreneurial companies or technologies that might result in terrific entrepreneurial companies. I was a judge at Northwestern University's Applied Research Day, a poster competition that featured University research with commercial potential. Last week, I attended the University of Chicago's Alternative Energy Forum, where I heard 14 companies seeking capital present themselves to an audience of over 100. Finally, last Wednesday, we had our own PAC Cum Laude Forum, where 3 budding companies presented their exciting business propositions to a group of investors.

The commonality of the presenters at all 3 events struck me and reinforced a common trait I see in most businesses. That is, they, and we, are all fluent in articulating the technical benefits of what we do, but they, and we, do not speak to our audience. In the case of the presenters at these 3 events, they all knew that the audience was a group of people with capital, or access to capital, who could invest in their new ventures. Unfortunately, almost without exception, the presentations were full of technical detail and spoke little to what the audience wanted to hear, which was the economic potential of the technology in the marketplace.

While graduate students and researchers can be excused for not thinking about the customer, we who run businesses cannot. How we communicate with our customers is critical to our topline success. Too often, we talk about the benefits of our product without considering the needs of our customer. At our PAC Cum Laude Forum last week, my colleague, Craig Elderkin, recommended the book "Strategic Selling" by Miller and Heiman (http://www.millerheiman.com/) . This nearly 20-year-old book has become a sales classic, and I highly recommend it. In it, you will learn, or be reminded of, the different types of buyers that influence the sales process, such as the Technical Buyer and the Economic Buyer.

Ron Crabtree (http://www.metaops.com/) is an adjunct professor at Villanova University, and he has developed useful tools to help the small business articulate the Voice of the Customer. Ron has spoken to our groups a number of times, and our members always benefit from hearing Ron speak on the topic.

Time and time again, I see business people design their sales and marketing messages around the question "What do I want?" The successful companies design their messages around "What does the customer want?" If you don't know what your customer wants, it's time you stopped and devoted some time and resources to figuring that out. The effort will yield a great return.

Happy holidays.

Nick