We get a lot of web traffic for hardware. We know that person is already searching for a device using the correct technical terms. They are on a mission. And herein lies the challenge. Most people do not know what they are looking for, what it is called, and how it works. They are flying blind in a fog of indistinct ideas. This is a shared communication challenge.
Valuable Brainspace
When you are on the other side of a fence looking back, you know the specifics of a device, key components, limitations, and use cases. The problem with all this technical expertise is that the person you are talking to speaks a different language. They have a different focus. They have a problem they want solved. That technical stuff is not terribly important. In many ways it is a waste of valuable brainspace.
So, what we have is a process of translation. It helps to ground an outcome within a context. A project manager calls it a “deliverable,” a scrum master calls it a “user story, an engineer calls it many names (usually expletives). You might not even have specific term for what you want. You have a pain point.
Sadistic sales people
As a sales person, my job would be to open that pain point, widen it, deepen it, get the full gory detail on just how much it hurts. Because the level of pain is directly related to the amount of money, effort and time, you are willing to pay to fix it. Pain is not an entirely logical process. Chronic pain can drive you to madness (… just like an entitled, demanding, customer).
The pain you are willing to endure to get a piece of hardware to work must be more than the level of pain you are currently experiencing.
Axiom 1.1
No quack fax
You want a “quick fix,” but most of the time there is no quick, easy and cheap fix. The word “solution” is a dangerous one for this very reason. It pre-supposes that you will get a “quick fix” for a long-term problem. But, in IoT, as in medical practice, diagnosis and cure are different ends of a spectrum. IoT solutions rarely solve the underlying issue. They are tools to regulate, automate and communicate. They use sensors to get better results, they are not a panacea.
The reason that I am using person 2 person (instead of peer 2 peer) is that a technically minded “peer” who visits our website really does have an understanding of what they want. They know there is a hardware component. They are happy looking at specifications, asking targeted questions on battery life, enclosures, components, waterproofing, voltages, mounting systems, and all the other details that make up a final package. They are not the norm.
Getting to the airport
When a “normal person” starts digging into the topic of IoT, they find a lot of that information is overkill. They don’t really care if the box is waterproof or what voltage the output is. Like a person taking a taxi to an airport does not normally care about the year and model of the car. Their concerns are focused on the reliability of the driver, getting there on time, and not getting overcharged for the trip.
We return for a last time to the technical team. They are paid for their time. They build things, but they have a family and a life outside of work too. The information they need is specific, logical (to them), and consistent. Their objective is called a “requirements” document, containing the format and type of information they need. They are focused on real world performance. Just like a doctor is ultimately unconcerned with “feelings,” their bedside manner can appear rude. It is not rude, it is time limited and focused on the rudiments.
Unequal Partnerships
We will close with the idea of unequal partnerships. When you deal with a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, a professional of any kind, they have a certain set of knowledge. That is called their profession. You rarely need their skills (if you are lucky). Nobody voluntarily calls a lawyer for a quick, expensive, chat. But, when you do, you are initially lost in a world of new terms, ideas and concepts. There is a set of knowledge, bounded by professional ethics, a legal code of conduct and a reputation in the marketplace. Their value to you is in finding a good fix to a pressing problem.
