Why Great Technology Isn't Enough: Understanding How Customers Actually Buy

A pattern I’ve observed over two decades of working with Israeli tech companies pursuing international growth is that many of them invest tremendous effort in understanding their products, their technology, and their competitors. Far fewer invest the same effort in understanding how their prospective customers actually make purchasing decisions.

As a result, companies often approach sales and business development with an incomplete picture of the organization they are trying to sell into.

An assumption made too often is that if the technology is compelling and the value proposition is clear, customers will buy.

In reality, that is rarely how enterprise purchasing decisions work.

Consider what happens inside a typical target organization.

The person experiencing the problem is often not the person approving the budget.

The person approving the budget may not be the final decision-maker.

The final decision-maker may rely heavily on the opinions of technical evaluators, operational managers, procurement professionals, or other stakeholders.

Meanwhile, additional individuals may influence the process behind the scenes without ever participating in a formal sales meeting.

In other words, companies are not selling to an organization.

They are selling to a collection of individuals, each with different responsibilities, priorities, concerns, and definitions of success.

Yet many technology companies approach all of them with essentially the same message.

This becomes even more problematic when companies focus primarily on demonstrating product capabilities.

Israeli startups are often exceptionally good at explaining technology.

They can deliver polished demonstrations, discuss sophisticated architectures, and describe innovative features in great detail.

But customers are not purchasing demonstrations.

They are evaluating change.

They are asking questions such as:

• What business problem does this solve?
• How difficult will implementation be?
• What risks are involved?
• How will success be measured?
• Who inside our organization will be affected?
• Will this initiative help or hurt my career?

Those questions vary significantly depending on who is asking them.

A Chief Financial Officer may focus on financial impact and risk.

A business unit leader may focus on operational efficiency and business outcomes.

A technical evaluator may focus on integration requirements and security.

A procurement professional may focus on vendor stability and contractual terms.

Each individual views the opportunity through a different lens.

This is why one of the most valuable exercises a company can perform is stakeholder mapping.

Before launching outreach efforts, companies should identify:

• Who experiences the problem?
• Who owns the budget?
• Who makes the final decision?
• Who influences the decision-maker?
• Who could become an internal champion?
• Who could become an internal obstacle?

The process should not stop at identifying job titles.

Companies should also seek to understand the individuals themselves.

What are their professional priorities?

What initiatives are they leading?

What challenges are they discussing publicly?

What metrics are they measured against?

What strategic goals has their organization announced?

Today, much of this information is publicly available through company websites, earnings calls, interviews, LinkedIn profiles, conference presentations, podcasts, and other sources.

The more a company understands the people involved in the buying process, the more relevant and effective its conversations become.

This is particularly important for Israeli technology companies entering the U.S. market.

Many executives assume that the greatest challenge is convincing prospects that the technology works.

In many cases, the technology is not the primary obstacle.

The greater challenge is helping multiple stakeholders reach the conclusion that adopting the solution is a safe, valuable, and strategically sound decision.

Great technology remains important.

Strong positioning remains important.

Effective messaging remains important.

But commercial success often depends on something much more fundamental:

Understanding how your customers buy, who influences those decisions, and what matters most to the people involved.

The companies that understand their customers best are often the ones that win - even when they do not have the most advanced technology.

Because customers do not buy products.

People make decisions.

 

Ilan Friedman