During my time in field sales, I wanted to obtain the business of Dental Schools and Hospitals. After obtaining meetings and making presentations to prominent Dentists, I was informed that they could not buy from me. After handling objections, showing how my offerings were better than the competition, I found out why. The decision-makers explained that they were under contract with large manufacturers and distributors.

These competitors offered deep discounts to Dental Schools so their students would get comfortable using their products. When students would become licensed Dentists, they would use the products they trained on instead of the competitors. These competitors built lifelong customer loyalty.

When I called on certain Dentists, they said they liked a particular company’s product. I asked them why they liked the product and would they consider switching for something comparable with faster service. The Dentists said no saying that they learned on particular equipment in Dental School and it was the only thing they felt comfortable using.

The Technology Life Cycle

Image via

http://www.matthewsonmarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/chap-1-fig-2-geoffrey-moore-tech-adopt-curve1.png?w=580

Geoffrey Moore discusses the Technology life cycle in Crossing the Chasm.

Dental manufactures and large distributors used pricing to target the Innovators/Early adopters/which in this case was the dental students and hospitals. To increase market share, they offered discounted pricing in exchange for purchase and long service contracts. These manufacturers and distributors succeeded in targeting dental students right before they would become customers; earning them years of customer loyalty.

Here is how this SAAS marketing program could be executed on the Technology Life cycle curve.

Innovators Preparation programs

Offer Preparation programs discounted pricing and free trials to try the product.

Have Pre-service Professionals get comfortable using the product.

Early Adopters Early Career Professionals

Offer them free trials and a lower discount.

Early/Late Majority Seasoned Professionals

Offer Trials and discounts to targeted staff and managers

Laggards Senior Staff Members

Continue to innovate the product and messaging to show how the product is being used.

Obtain Testimonials from satisfied staff and managers.

Show how the product exceeds competitors.

When appropriate, offer free and discounted trials to all appropriate prospects.

This is how Tech companies can improve their market share and generate life-long customer loyalty.

Tech Companies have the chance to improve business and generate life-long customer loyalty. This opportunity can be seized by offering discounted pricing and free trials to Innovators/Early Adopters which in this case are the preparation programs.

What Tech product do you want to try?

Comment and share below.

Additional Market Research Why & How People Buy Tech

When marketing and selling a tech product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.

1. What motivates people to buy a tech product or service?

2. How do people find a tech product or service to buy?

I surveyed my LinkedIn audience for answers.

1. What motivates people to buy a tech product or service?

People buy a technology product or service for many reasons.

2. How do people find a tech product or service to buy?

People find and buy technology products or services in different ways.

These findings suggest businesses need to create customer-centric offerings to survive in a competitive marketplace. Answering these questions will help businesses develop, create and, position offerings people want to purchase. I

Why & How People Buy

When marketing and selling a product or service, it is important to ask two questions to understand your buyers.

1. What motivates people to buy a product or service?

2. How do people find a product or service to buy?

I surveyed my LinkedIn audience for answers.

1. What motivates people to buy a product or service?

People buy a product or service for many reasons.

2. How do people find a product or service to buy?

People find and buy products or services in different ways.

These findings suggest businesses need to create customer-centric offerings to survive in a competitive marketplace.

Answering these questions will help businesses develop, create and, position offerings people want to purchase.

About Me

I’m a Strategic Marketer with Field Sales, Sales Enablement, Content Creation and, Classroom Teacher/Trainer skill-sets using Marketing to drive Sales/Growth.

As a Marketer, I’ve worked with Start-Ups, a Political Campaign, and a Digital Marketing Conference.

I’m certified in Inbound Marketing with classes in Marketing, Product Management, Product Marketing, SEO, SEM.

Before teaching, I was an Outside Sales and Marketing Rep. selling and marketing dental products to Dentists using consultative selling, trade show marketing, field marketing, and market research.

I publish Sales, Marketing & Social Media Today a blog covering industry events and trends.

Articles and insights have been featured, mentioned and, referenced in:

Tractica in the News

The Future of AI

https://medium.com/@DanGalante/the-future-of-ai-insights-from-the-ai-summit-ab6267eca70b

Digital Marketing World Forum

https://www.digitalmarketing-conference.com/key-insights-from-digital-marketing-world-forum-north-america/

Voice Summit

Compilation: Our Favorite Post-VOICE Coverage So Far

https://www.voicesummit.ai/blog/compilation-our-favorite-post-voice-coverage

Engage Bay

7 Steps to Align your Marketing Automation Strategy

https://www.engagebay.com/blog/marketing-automation-strategy/

Relay 42

The Role of Technology in Customer-Centricity

https://relay42.com/resources/blog/the-role-of-technology-in-customer-centricity

Databox

How to Improve Marketing and Sales Alignment (Gave background)

https://databox.com/how-to-improve-sales-marketing-alignment

Onalytica

Named as a Top STEM Influencer for EdTech and Education Industry Insights.

http://www.onalytica.com/blog/posts/stem-top-influencers-brands-publications/

The Arizona Republic

http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/handle-top-10-sme-sales-objections-24845.html

Twitter Ads Blog

https://blog.twitter.com/2014/how-smartphone-users-engage-on-twitter-three-key-findings

Paper.li’s Wall Of Fame via Scoop.it

http://www.scoop.it/t/all-things-paper-li/?tag=Dan+Galante

I’ve been honored for my Social Profiles

•LinkedIn SSI Score in the Top 1%

•SlideShare for being in the top 5% of profiles viewed in 2014

•LinkedIn Profile was in the top 1% of profiles viewed out of 200 million members in 2012

I’m seeking a full-time role in:

Inbound Marketing, Digital Marketing, Content Marketing, Product Marketing, Demand Generation, Social Media Marketing, Sales Enablement Enablement, Sales Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing.

Open on title, industry, company, location, and level. Reach out on LinkedIn or at dan@dangalante.com to start a conversation.

Sales processes include the following: customer development,   prospecting, discovery calls, closing deals, cross-selling, upselling, post-sales implementation, customer experience, obtaining referrals, and testimonials.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

I surveyed my LinkedIn audience to find out.

Survey Results

Of those surveyed, 53 % said closing deals was the hardest part of the Sales Process, followed by understanding market fit at 22%, Calling on buyers, and knowing their needs at 19% with the lowest being cross-selling, referrals, testimonials, or other reasons at 6%.

Based on these findings, I have included nine ways to enable sales teams to close more deals.

9 Strategies to Empower and Enable Sales Teams to Make more Sales

1.Have Sales and Marketing Management discuss Sales Cycle mapping out Sales, Marketing, and the Customer Journey.

2. Have Marketing go with Sales on calls to observe customer interactions regularly.

3. Take notes from Sales calls to develop answers to customer objections.

4. Role play with the Sales to get better at objection handling.

5. Develop an on-demand LMS for Sales including Decks, Videos, Sales Training materials, Product training materials, Scripts, and FAQs.

6. Use feedback from Sales calls and objections to improve Sales and Marketing Collateral.

7. Assign readings on sales strategy and techniques.

8. Conduct market research to show how is your products and services are better than the competitor. Present market research creating a chart that Sales can refer to when dealing with customers.

9. Develop buyer personas to understand customer buying motives. Share the buyer personas with Sales.

What is the hardest part of the sales process?

How did you fix your sales process?

Share your thoughts.

Using Technology, Data & AI to Improve Traffic Safety: Insights from The 2025 World Traffic Safety Symposium 

I covered the World Traffic Safety Symposium at the New York International Auto Show this past April. The symposium focused on using data and AI to reduce pedestrian fatalities and to make roads and cars safer.

Mark Scheinberg, President of the Greater New York Automotive Dealers Association and the New York International Auto Show, opened the symposium. 

Guest Speakers included:

Mark F. Schroeder, Commissioner, NYS DMV, Governor’s Representative for Highway Safety, Richard Martinez, Former NHTSA Administrator and current Adjunct Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Garret Eucalitto Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Eric Teoh Director of Statistical Services Insurance Institute for Highway Safety IIHS , Tara Andringa, Executive Director at PAVE , Jon Baldwin, EVP of Government Solutions a Verra Mobility, Jonathan Miller, VP Enterprise Growth at Nexar Inc., and Zach Rash, Co-Founder and CEO of COCO, and many others.

Mark shared his commitment to road safety in New York State. He described the various task forces working to make roads safer for drivers and pedestrians. I was shocked to learn about the 20 percent pedestrian death rate on roads. 

Richard Martinez, Former NHTSA Administrator and current Adjunct Professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, shared some interesting findings about enhancing vehicle and road safety through data and AI. 

He shared that unintentional motor vehicle traffic accidents are one of the leading causes of death in the United States. For example, in 5 to 14-year-olds and 15 to 24-year-olds, it is the leading cause of death. In 1 to 4 year olds, 25 to 34 year olds, 35 to 44 year olds, 45 to 54 year olds, 55 to 64, and 65+, it is the second leading cause of death, with all ages ranking third in under one year of age. Overall, unintentional traffic accidents rank as the third leading cause of death across all groups. 

This data suggests that motor vehicle accidents are a serious issue. I was shocked to see how motor vehicle crashes are. 

Richard shared a way to improve road safety, achieving a vision zero through a safe system approach. Safe system elements include safer people, safe roads, safer vehicles, safer speeds, and enhanced survivability post-crash care. The creation of a safe environment for first responders to prevent secondary crashes through robust traffic incident management practices.

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine presented critical findings in their report Tackling the Road Safety Crisis.

Critical Findings

Challenges

Opportunities

The goal is to go from Reactive to proactive to Predictive to reduce crashes.

The Connecticut DOT commissioner shared the challenges in AI. 

Eric Teoh, Director of Statistical Services Insurance Institute for Highway Safety IIHS shared that motor vehicle crashes are down over the past 50 years, but motor vehicle crash fatalities are up 30 percent. 

The goal is to go from Reactive to proactive to Predictive to reduce crashes.

Tara Andringa, Executive Director at PAVE, shared some interesting research about whether people would ride in an autonomous vehicle. Taxi and/or ride share, 48 % said that they would not. However, the poll found that 60 percent said that they would trust AVs if they understood the technology. 58 percent said that they would have greater trust in AVs if they could take a ride. PAVE educates the public showing demystifying technology and highlighting different ways AVs might be used. 

In a panel discussion on the safety of Urban Mobility Safety Technology,

Jon Baldwin, EVP of Government Solutions a Verra Mobility, Jonathan Miller, VP Enterprise Growth at Nexar Inc., and Zach Rash, Co-Founder and CEO of COCO, shared how their companies’ offerings use Technology, AI, and Data to make urban mobility safer. Verra Mobility offers Automated Enforcement. Nexar offers Smart Dash Cameras that can be used in multiple applications and a robust Data platform, COCO offers autonomous delivery vehicles with mapping technology. They provided Cookies in one of their autonomous delivery vehicles, demonstrating the technology. 

The 2025 World Traffic Safety Symposium highlighted issues, insights, and solutions to improve traffic safety. 

I learned a great deal.

Thank you to the New York International Auto Show and the Greater New York Automobile Association for allowing me to cover this event.