Some insights from a tough customer in the real world

Apr 1, 2002 12:00 PM, Larry Anderson

It's important for those of us in the editorial community to stay in close touch with those of you in the reader community, also known as the real world. It takes a constant effort for us to keep open the lines of communication. We can't let the day-to-day editorial duties of getting a magazine to the printer overshadow a broader interpretation of our goals: We want to produce not just a magazine, but a magazine that serves our readers' needs.

We recently paid a visit to one of our readers at his workplace and came away with a wealth of information about his day-to-day work — his problems and challenges. Here are some insights we gained from our most recent visit to the real world:

• Technology development is great, but it doesn't wipe away the need to work with legacy systems. The reader we visited had thousands of dollars of equipment working at his facility, almost none of it what we might consider “cutting edge technology.” Information about the latest whiz-bang technology does an end-user little good if his company can't afford it or if it doesn't work with the equipment he already has.

• Buying a new security system — or buying anything in the corporate environment for that matter — is an unbelievably complex process involving people at multiple levels of the corporation. It's an environment that stresses cost justification, and it's one in which security purchases sometimes compete for scarce funds with other purchases that might be more glitzy or more closely tied into the bottom line. Thoughtful investment in security can provide an economic payback, but security is still largely seen as overhead in the corporate environment. Larger companies are looking to standardize on technologies that can be used at multiple sites corporate-wide. It's an even harder sell, but the potential economic payback for a supplier is huge.

• Sometimes appearances of security are just as important as actual security, especially when the general public is involved. Some users are finding themselves spending money to make their customers feel safe. A high-profile project that creates an illusion of safety can do as much or more for the bottom line as a low-profile job that might have better security benefits. Especially in these uncertain times, making customers feel safe is paramount — just ask the airlines.

• End-users are starving for information on technology and its ability to solve problems, but they don't want to hear another sales pitch. The user we visited is tired of being bombarded by salesman who do not bother to understand his business. He is tired of salesmen who don't give him credit for being knowledgeable and tech-savvy. He's also tired of salesmen who propose solutions without really hearing — or at least without really listening to and understanding — the problems that need to be solved. What customers want is fewer slick color brochures and more real dialogue based on the actual problems at hand.

There are some tough customers out there in the real world, but are you really asking too much?

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• Targeting The Customer
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• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue