Giorgio's Notes
Why Is Sugar Sweet?
What makes sugar sweet? I mean, what is the chemistry involved in the sweet taste? Our tongue detects the sugar molecule by its shape. Sugar molecule fits into grooves in our tongue tip, and when this groove is filled a nerve sends a message to the brain that says -sweet!. It is as simple as that. Sweetness is not in the sugar, then; but in our minds. Perceptions, are derived senses actually. They are managed by more evolved areas of our brain. For instance the perception of flavor -a derived sense, is a combination of taste + smell. And what makes our product sweet, ...
Bilateral Symmetry
R&D investments stagnating and engineering software sales slow down. From a software customer perspective, three factors are shrinking investments in engineering software: Open source software. Customers start to consider open source software as an option. Mergers or acquisitions. Newly-consolidating client companies maximize interoperability and reduce software redundancy, i.e. they get rid of the ones they don't need anymore. Wide Area Network vs. Local Area Network. Global companies want to deploy software on global scale. They need to reallocate software licenses into main servers, to gain economies of scale and optimize expenses for software. From a software vendor perspective, three factors are driving sales down: Open source ...
Software and Sushi
Software and Sushi are two of my favourite things. I like the customizability of sushi meals. There's always a sushi meal that fits with my appetite. I also like the inexpensiveness of sushi. Or actually the inexpensive price per item. Three Euros for a Temaki, two for an Uramaki, etc. Low price per item means low pain in the buying process. Moreover I like the zenlike design of sushi sets. Like with the sushi, some software editors offer component-based software, where clients choose from a "menu" the modules they need. Sushi restaurants & software companies success factors: 1. High quality components 2. "A la carte" ...
Rational-Emotional
Brain science recently discovered that purchase decisions are processed in less-evolved areas of our brain. Therefore, product buying process, is processed by the same brain-area interested in basic matters like reproduction. Emotions make our customers buy even complex products like software. Rational thought leads customers to be interested but it is emotion that sells. People, engineers included, aren't much interested in attributes and features; they want to know if the product, software included, fits with their personality.
Software & Bikini
Women have been used to sell products to men for decades. IF - Male brain is wired to respond to attractive females. AND - Engineering software are mainly used by young males THEN - Engineering companies should attract prospects with sexual marketing tactics I wonder whether this would have real impact on sales. A study made by a Neuro-economics expert, ("Heat of the Moment: The Effect of Sexual Arousal on Sexual Decision Making"), shows that men who are sexually aroused are more focused on short-term gratification than on long-term logic. Being a software buying process the outcome of a long term ...
“One Month” Free Trial
I don't know how the idea of the "One Month Free" software started - whether it has to do with purchase order cycle, or moon cycle. From the end-user perspective, if the software is a "One-Off" application, one month trial is far too long. The user will use the application and forget about you and your software. You should offer a shorter trial period, instead. On the other hand, if the software is a long term application, there's no reason to limit the trial to 30 days. It would be better to implement functional restrictions. Even with limited features, the software will ...
Software Version Control
In software engineering, version control tracks the changes made to the software. Version control tells Who, What and When any modification was made to the software. Alas, it doesn't say much on Why it was made. Did the modification come from a client request? Or was it made because it was easy to implement and inexpensive? Any inexpensive but unrequested product feature generates expenses for promoting, selling and supporting the software.
Code Vs. Software
People use either "Code" or "Software" as if they were synonyms. Sales-engineers often use "code". Sales-non-engineers always use "software". The distinction between Code and Software is subtle. Programmers write codes, the list of statements that give instructions to computers. The software is the end product: what the users perceive. When demoing the software, the above difference can be significant. It's software what our customer is buying.
Only 5 Inches Tall
Niche markets are hot. Apart from the top five (Dassault, Ansys, MSC, Siemens PLM and LMS), Computer Aided Engineering company average size is as small as $5 Millions. Because big players don't pursue such small markets before they eventually grow, niche software live a limited competitive pressure, i.e. bigger profits and growth. Quoting Seth Godin "because everyone in Hollywood is trying to be George Clooney, there are a lot more opportunities for the few Danny DeVito willing to show up." My advice then is to invest (your time) in niche software companies.
Low-Touch, Golden-Touch
For some reasons intangible products (e.g. software) are often marketed like tangible ones (e.g. gas turbines). Same business model and also same costs: in case of an industrial software direct cost of sales hits 15.000€ per license. Software sales cycle, can be managed in a more low-touch, low-cost way. Video presentations, webinars and canned web-trainings can avoid people travelling to the client site. A web based meeting costs 30€. The same meeting on-site 600€. Some veterans think that a "physical" meeting is always worth the money spent. I think we should better ask the client, who pays the difference between the two.
