As a sales engineer, you need to ensure that your product can integrate seamlessly with your customer's existing systems and processes. Product compatibility is not only a technical issue, but also a business value proposition that can make or break a deal. How can you ensure product compatibility before implementation? Here are some tips to help you.
Before you pitch your product, you need to understand your customer's pain points, goals, and current situation. You can use various methods to gather this information, such as interviews, surveys, demos, or site visits. The more you know about your customer's needs, the better you can tailor your product to fit them.
Especially in fintech but also in other industries, one of the most basic questions that needs to be understood is how the client makes money. You need to understand the company's business model to grasp the pain points and the current situation. If your team does not understand the mechanics of value generation and key business drivers, all their demos and proposals will most likely fall flat. Fintech and some tech companies tend to have more complicated models than traditional goods and services industries. Understanding the business will help your product deliver value, and have a lot better contextual understanding throughout the engagement.
Once you have a clear picture of your customer's needs, you need to identify the compatibility requirements for your product. These may include hardware, software, network, security, data, or performance specifications. You also need to consider any regulatory, legal, or ethical standards that may apply to your product or industry. You can use tools such as checklists, matrices, or diagrams to document and communicate these requirements.
Before you implement your product, you need to test and validate its compatibility with your customer's systems and processes. You can use various techniques to do this, such as simulations, prototypes, pilots, or beta tests. You need to involve your customer in this process and collect their feedback and approval. You also need to document and report any issues, risks, or gaps that may affect compatibility.
After you have verified the compatibility of your product, you need to plan and execute its implementation. You need to coordinate with your customer and other stakeholders, such as developers, engineers, or support teams, to ensure a smooth and timely delivery. You need to follow the best practices and standards for your product and industry, such as agile, waterfall, or DevOps. You also need to monitor and troubleshoot any problems that may arise during or after implementation.
Finally, you need to provide training and support to your customer and their users to ensure they can use your product effectively and efficiently. You need to design and deliver training materials and sessions that suit your customer's needs and preferences, such as online, in-person, or on-demand. You also need to offer support options and channels that are reliable, responsive, and accessible, such as phone, email, chat, or helpdesk.
In my experience this is a critical step for success. The rollout plan should be started well in advance of deployment. The plan can be dialed in during beta testing. The notion of "build it and they will come" rarely works.
Even after you have implemented your product, you need to evaluate and improve its compatibility with your customer's systems and processes. You need to measure and analyze the results and outcomes of your product, such as user satisfaction, adoption, retention, or ROI. You also need to solicit and act on feedback and suggestions from your customer and their users to enhance your product's features, functionality, or performance. You need to keep up with the changing needs and expectations of your customer and the market.