As owners of product creation, are we accountable for how the products are sold?
What’s the point of delivering and not understanding how users interact with our products? Shouldn’t we be protagonists of the birth of a product?
After much effort from your squad, the product went live and didn’t work as expected or worked poorly. How is this possible if we are experts in creating and developing digital products? Is it because of a lousy strategy? Maybe it is because of a misplanning? Several matters can compromise a product’s success beyond good development practices, but I want to focus on a particular one throughout this article.
In technology, part of our responsibility is to detect and anticipate all possible technical and strategic failures in a project so we can launch a solid version of the product to customers. We acknowledge this information and methodologies from our expertise in the field. But is there something outside the production chain and expertise we haven’t mastered yet that can compromise the product’s success? YES! The product sales process. This stage is responsible for adequately communicating all value, benefits, and user expectations so the product has significant user adoption.
Designers and developers “were built” to combine pieces to create something, often overlooking all the reasons behind a solution.
Knowing this, we are the perfect piece of production and nothing more. This reality leaves us with a significant lack of strategic business/sales knowledge that occurs after the production stage and can impact our results.
What do we control, and what do we don’t?
As part of a production chain, we create safe developing environments. We use several production methodologies (Agile, Kanban, Scrum, and Waterfall), allowing us to track every developing step to ensure optimal results. This part of the process is under our supervision so that we can be accountable for all outcomes.
What happens when we deliver? In some companies, another area takes it from here to sell to clients, whether as a value proposal or to engage more users with our products. So, somehow, we lose sight of the product so that others explain and navigate it to the end customer, hoping for good numbers to come eventually. I wonder if this is the right thing to do.
Beyond our sight
If our focus is just the delivery part, we are only accountable for how we built something. What happens beyond our production sight can be entirely the blind side for us. Usually, with this dynamic, we need to respond to an area or external role that brings the customer’s performance or voice to us, and from there, we need to take action (a Chinese whisper game situation). I wonder, in which scenario this dynamic is good? What’s the point of delivering and not understanding how users interact with our products? Shouldn’t we be protagonists of the birth of a product? I know the nature of our profiles (designers and engineers), but we might have this strategic disadvantage vs. other areas, roles, and higher-ranking conversations.
A situation in which a piece of information is passed from one person to the next and is changed slightly each time it is told.
Do we need to develop selling skills?
As I mentioned above, we were somehow built to create and put pieces together, but no one ever taught us how to prompt a potential client or respond to a user’s dissatisfaction. I’m not pointing out to high roles in a company tech that master these abilities but to the production majority.
I found a very accurate definition of Selling skills in a LucidChart blog called “15 essential sales skills you need to master:” by definition, it involves explaining how your product works, what value it provides, and why your prospects need it. Although this concept may apply to a company’s relationship with end or potential users, it can also be used to support the rationale for a solution with teammates or internal stakeholders at any stage of a process.
To the question above, whether or not we need to develop selling skills, I would say a solid yes. However, before realizing these skills are crucial for our careers, let’s first understand the type of product we sell.
How do we sell technology?
This portion belongs to the product creation process we can control, so it should be natural for us to dominate this first step. It refers to understanding how the products work end-to-end, the applied technology, and the user experience.
Some recommendations before prompting a user:
Identify all possible use cases.Have a clear understanding of how the technology works.Identify all border cases: if there’s no need to explain them, you will feel confident considering all possible scenarios (it’s a good practice anyway).Think like a customer: Never assume that the experience you are presenting is granted. Address the issues from a perspective everyone can understand, avoiding high technicalities.
If we do not know how the product works
You’ll probably be under high stress due to the lack of answers to specific questions. I call this phenomenon the “middleman dynamic,” meaning someone tries to explain things they have not mastered. Therefore, it is highly probable this person will provide inaccurate answers or misunderstand how the product works, eventually setting unrealistic expectations on the user side. Who sells better? The inventor or an interpreter?
2. Identify the strong why (value)
This second milestone is the core of any selling process; it has been a reality since Simon Sinek enunciated: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it, and what you do simply proves what you believe.”
Prompting people from a technical side is good; we should master that portion of information, but it is not the only reason a client will pay attention to your product. Right here, we must combine the technical aspect with one closer to people to generate greater interest in the benefit of technology and not only maintain a sterile and niche conversation disconnected from the human side.
The WHY usually comes from a strong understanding of a product’s need at the beginning of a project, so don’t underestimate this process stage. It can empower you with solid arguments to sell in the future.
Some recommendations before prompting a user:
Start with a common ground that can connect you with the client, a need, a situation, or friction.Prepare answers to possible questions beyond the technical side that make you closer to the person.How the product works is relevant, but the idea behind how we can solve issues is even more critical to closing a sale.
If we do not know the WHY
Our speech will probably be much more technical than human. In some scenarios, this might be expected, but if you are dealing with people outside the tech world, you will create instead a barrier that will push your clients away.
3. The measurement promise
The purpose of a solution is to be able to have numbers and make decisions with them. If you have something that can not be measured, it might fall into an abstract layer, but in technology, this is the goal to pursue. Every product we launch is tied to numbers and continuous tracking; therefore, this aspect should be present when prompting clients. It can take several shapes, like a projection, assessment, or constant performance measurement. Technology should provide information to all users who can access it to make decisions. Numbers create a sense of reality that users can control.
Some recommendations before prompting a user:
Get ready with a tracking plan for users, and enlighten them that one of the product’s benefits is the availability of data to consult.Connect the functionality and the WHY with numbers as a significant product outcome.
If we do not have a metric promise
Your product will probably feel incomplete; maybe the technology is OK, or the experience is outstanding, but what should the users do with only these two milestones? Sooner or later, we need to start thinking about numbers, so don’t underestimate this recommendation when gaining more adopters for your product.
Extra tip: The Two communications
The sales process is one of the varieties of technology communications that, together with interface communication (screen dialogue, instructions, UX writing, etc), make a powerful combination that can help users generate greater adoption of your product. Interface communication belongs to the building process, so we should anticipate an exemplary implementation. On the contrary, selling something (the sales process) requires some personal skills and preparation to connect with people, and maybe that’s not our strength, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn.
Combining these two technology communications will reduce process uncertainty on the user’s side. Once you are not in the room to explain why and how the product works, the interface will do the work.
What I got from this
Selling might look strange to us; maybe it is not natural at all, but as with many things in life, we need to unlock the next level of things to move forward, and effective communication is one of the things that will lead us to the next step in our career.
A good sale is not only a thing from experts or a role; a good sale results from knowing a product and connecting with people.
As with other experiences, this is only one of the many #ShortStoriesOfMyLifeAsDesigner.
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To write this article, I want to credit all the fantastic information sources and other authors who wrote about related topics, all from another exciting perspective.
How to Design better-selling Products
Selling Your Startup: What You Need to Know
The Story of the Chinese Whisper and Business Analysis
The Whisper Game Effect: How facts get turned into fake news
15 essential sales skills you need to master
Should technology teams sell products? was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
