Will the customer need any special additional things to be able to run your solution

If you have gone through the last 8 posts, where I have shared my checklist of launching a new technology based B2B business, then this post will be a logical next step.

Have you gone to the car dealership and seen a car which has the best features in the world and you could also afford it and you had the need and it was available in the color of your choice, with all the accessories that you wanted, but still did not buy it. If you have to buy a car which only runs on ATF (Aviation Turbine fuel), will you buy it? The car may be amazing and have the most incredible features, but if you can’t get ATF near you on a regular basis, you will not buy this car, because you won’t be able to use the car.

Similarly if you have a tremendous technical solution, for a B2B business, but the company will need specific additional inputs to get the solution to actually work out, then the solution will be a non-starter.

As I have mentioned many times earlier, if there’s even a slight amount of resistance in your solution, in a B2B environment, you will not be able to convince most customers to take your solution. Most B2B managers (whatever be the level of the manager) are risk averse. One, because of the peer pressure , where even a small mistake gets highlighted and could spoil the manager’s career and second, the inertia to move through various levels of the hierarchy to get approvals is extremely high and the questions that need to be answered, to get the approval is a major pain.

If after doing all the activity, they realise, that other than the solution, they also need to arrange for specific inputs which are either too expensive or generally unavailable, then they will just not want to take it forward.

There are some managers, who like to take risks and try new things, but even they will be averse to trying this kind of a solution which entails handling two different variables, where the outcome is not certain.

Has any of you heard of the satellite phone that was launched by Motorola, just before the GSM mobile phones were launched on a large scale. These were bulky sets which had a huge cost of the phone as well as the cost of making the call. You had to specifically carry it in a specialised case. And Motorola had to launch multiple satellites to ensures that there was coverage across the world, all the time. Without the satellites, the phone wouldn’t work (specific item).

The positive of these satellite phones was that, you could be anywhere on earth (except in water) and you could make a call to your dear ones, by connecting via the satellite. So this was a unique proposition. But the cost, the size and carrying such a bulky phone in a special case, were big resistance points and the competitive GSM technology was available at a fraction of a cost.

So until and unless you were climbing mountains or going on treks in the forest, where there was no GSM “tower”, you would not need a satellite phone. Many millions of dollars later, Motorola just got out of the business.

So you may have a great solution, which is technologically very advanced and has a unique value, but if the customer sees resistance points (at your end – like the satellite, or at their end – like the ATF fuel) they will just not move forward.

So build your solutions which can run on generally available infrastructure or commodities and then take it to the market.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!