Selling Innovation: The Data (chapter 6)

The innovation economy shifts daily. New or updated products and services change the landscape at an ever increasing rate, and occasionally a truly disruptive innovation enters the market forcing incumbents to alter plans while opening up new opportunities for the latest crop of fast followers.

The only way to develop perspective from the blizzard of data and information sources is with regular use of effective tools.  Tools will help identify which paths to market are proving most effective, through which media outlets your audience is responding to your message most often, and how do you compare with other products and services vying for attention and wallet share.

Until you can see a clear trend based on reliable data, selling innovation is mostly likely a lot of luck.  While many within startup and technology organizations do not consider sales as essential to success and product development, sales is the direct communication line to the customers, and therefore the primary source for data collection.

Quantitative data gives you knowledge which can be helpful in crating your innovation.  But it is qualitative analysis, the stepping back and trying to make sense of the volumes of data you collect, that helps you selling your innovation and running your business.

Read More about The Data…

• Vendor / Technology Selection & Vendor Negotiations
• Integrating Sales Tech with Tech Ops
• Building and Managing a Sales Pipeline
• Building Sales Teams

Download the remainder of the book Selling Innovation using the discount code WD22R (valid until 4/30/2014). Follow us on Twitter @sellingInno

image credit: venturebeat.com

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Ken Smith, Business Plan Reviewer and Start-up Coach for Springboard Enterprises, served as Co-chair of CEO Service Committee for the MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge; and is the author of the start-up resource guidebook Selling Innovation