Social Gastronomy

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Last few weeks, we have had some pretty intensive conversations as to why ADOPTION?

• Like, I get it, but why do you call it adoption?
• I know about technology adoption, but buyer adoption?
• I do X, we can’t do it, but I think my buyers need to understand this because this fixes some problems upstream of me.
• Why isn’t everyone doing this?
• Sales does this one-to-one, why can’t our marketing team do this?

So, I am not going to answer all of these directly, we put a deck together http://www.slideshare.net/mrosenhaft/social-gastronomy-defining-the-adoption-problem-130611 which introduces why you might have an adoption problem. I suggest that you read it and then read the rest of this post as it will make a lot more sense. But, here is my take on understanding buyer’s adoption:

1. Adoption = key to servicing buyer’s needs

2. Adoption = specialized focus discipline and expertise + specialized, not-yet-commercially-available diagnostic tools + defined operational assessment & planning model

3. Adoption = Understanding decisions buyers make upstream before getting engaged with you

4. Adoption = identify “holes” in buyer’s understanding which prevents buying decision ( especially in large, strategic, complex, cross-functional, large $,  committee purchases)

5. Adoption = clarity to isolate disconnect between what educated versus uneducated buyers know - uneducated buyers are still trying to figure out what problem they have, what solution options could solve it while educated buyers know what solution they need, but still may be comparing requirements and/or vendors

But, Adoption is NOT a Magic Bullet – Understanding the buyers’ problem(s), perspectives, buying process, and market landscape does not automatically make your company:

• Trusted advisers on problem(s)
• Able to facilitate the decision-ing process
• Solve other associated problems for the buyer
• Deliver a better product or service
• Align your organization to actually solve the problems from a buyer’s perspective
• *Poof* You are an adoption expert – Reading 10 slides and a bunch of posts does not make an expert

But, knowing adoption sure makes all of these easier and improves your chances of getting “it” right, helping you align to your buyers needs and decision making process to actually solve problems, and is a helluva lot easier to deliver without the misalignment, which I would think would be motivation enough. Trust me, thinking and delivering like your buyers is so much more rewarding and satisfying. Finally, someone needs to be the buyer’s advocate / cross-functional adoption owner for the business, might as well be you, right?