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, then? Does it reside in product features (molecule shape), or more in how it fits with our client’s taste pores?

Almost all experienced sales people learned how to link product features and benefits. Features (molecule) give you credibility, while Benefits (taste) give you marketability. But it is Positioning (perception) that makes you close the sale. Product perception involves complex associations, based on client’s personal experience on similar products.

The good news is that perception and positioning are (still) far too complex phenomena to be automated by any software means. Experienced sales persons, with good questioning and listening skill can still make the difference.

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.

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 remain on your customer’s desktop, used from time to time.

I think the “one month free license” does not increase software sales, although many companies offer it.

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.

I’m wondering who is my customer.

In our Interlocked world, identifying the customer is not easy. From a sales person perspective, the customer might be the engineer who uses the software, or the IT person who tests it, or the manager who decides. There’s a whole team behind every customer. Users,  influencers and buyers are Linked-In, ruling other buyers.

From a sales manager’s point of view, the primary customer is the sales representative. Sales people are the intermediate buyers; they might see product benefits you have not considered yet.

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.

An engineer of a company called me saying: “Our COO wants us to evaluate your software for our product design”. Then we set a meeting with him and the COO.

This morning I went there; a first technical meeting with the designers, before seeing the COO. They said the software would be used as an on-off application on a single project. They found the software difficult to learn, therefore they asked me for a quotation for a consultancy project. Then, the COO joined the meeting. I resumed what I was asked by his engineers, and this is what he said: “I don’t need you to design my product, I want my engineers to do that for all our products”. His engineers nodded in agreement.

Customers lie, for many personal reasons. Rephrasing the Newton’s law of inertia:

An object (an engineer) at rest (working in Research & Development) will remain at rest (will use the same technology, methods) unless acted upon by an external and unbalanced force (unless their boss twists their ears).