We created a visual primer on the major types of adoption. Enjoy!
Archive for the ‘Problem Adoption’ category
Confused on What Adoption Really Means?
August 6th, 2014Reconciling Freemium Model and Adoption for B2B Technology Companies
July 24th, 2014Interesting trend that we have seen lately – B2B SaaS software firms who are dealing with an adoption problem despite their freemium offerings. It seems that they have a huge drop-off from the sign-ups on the freemium version to their paid version. Not surprising that there is a drop-off, but many feel like the drop-off is bigger than expected given the value that they provide.
We have seen this before with a client that we worked with so I feel confident that I can guess at some of the root issues:
- Sales Team – They are selling a somewhat complicated solution without a direct sales force substituting a free experience for sales management. For many less complex, consumerized applications this is an appropriate model as the cost of sales does not support the cost of the application.
- Adoption – For the more complex applications, the challenge for the larger organizations is getting people to buy into the application – intellectually, emotionally, and operationally. Freemium does not mean it does not have a cost to the buyers. Continue reading “Reconciling Freemium Model and Adoption for B2B Technology Companies” »
Defining a Core Business Problem for Technology Companies
June 24th, 2014It has been a while since we wrote a post, so I thought I would outline why I think that you, as a technology vendor, probably have a unique technology, but have an adoption problem. What you think is a technology adoption problem is really a buyer adoption problem.
As a buyer, I bet if I read your website or marketing materials, I would not be clear on what strategic business problem that you solve or what changes in behavior are required of the buyers to adopt your approach. But I can hear you say:”Wait. You don’t know what I do. How can you say I have a problem without looking at my stuff?”
I know because this is the core existential problem for almost every technology company and because adoption is so difficult to overcome quickly. Technology by definition is change. Newer is better, different. If it ain’t new, it ain’t technology. Even “old” technology is referring to something that was new at the time and now is obsolete. So, the business of technology is the business of change. Continue reading “Defining a Core Business Problem for Technology Companies” »
Part 1 – Why a Problem Elevator May Be Your Problem
February 8th, 2014If you told me a few weeks ago that my world would hinge on the word “problem” and a lot of the challenges I was having in driving understanding of our business would be based upon the lack of clarity as to what a problem really is, I would have been shocked.
I routinely ask my friends and contacts, “what problem do you solve and for whom”. I usually get a surprised look, a pause, and then something that resembles a value statement. But, it wasn’t till this week that I realized that the word “problem” had a different context. Talk about a loaded word.
When I have been using the word “problem”, I have been asking the question from an uneducated buyer’s perspective. “If I had never heard of your industry, let alone your company, what problem would I come to you for?” But, that has been interpreted as “How we do what we do that helps you.”
Continue reading “Part 1 – Why a Problem Elevator May Be Your Problem” »
Part 2 – What is the difference between “In-market buyers” and for “buyers with a problem that is yet to become a market”
February 8th, 2014In-market – if your industry is half-way through its lifecycle, there may be a lot of buyers who don’t realize there is a category out there for their problem. Or, they don’t see the painful issues they are dealing with in their business as related to the industry. Or, they think they need to build their own homegrown solution to the problem. In short, they may have the problem, but the short-hand is not helping them connect to the industry/category, let alone to your approach to solving the problem. You need to be able to build a problem elevator that connects what they are experiencing to the solution you provide. Take to the basics, build bottom-up from the problem and their experience rather than category down through your feature differences.
