Many firms market and sell technically complex software-based products and services. Fueled by plummeting technology costs, low barriers to entry, distributed frameworks and an increasingly interconnected planet, the rate of innovation in software systems is accelerating. Software products are rapidly becoming more complex. As a result, sales and marketing teams, especially those who are generalists representing multiple products, are challenged to fully understand their own offerings let alone sell them effectively.
General Electric realized years ago as a part of their six sigma initiative that the Effectiveness of a solution is equal to the Quality of the solution multiplied its Acceptance. The best solution in the world was of no use, if there was no “buy in” to implement it. Good ideas need to be sold and accepted before they can be implemented. This same principle applies widely, and certainly holds true in technical sales. An organization may have the best technology in the world (the quality part of the equation), however if they fail to articulate a clear story they will struggle to gain acceptance on the part of a buyer,
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