The single most important lesson I've learned from hundreds of sales calls selling a B2B AI solution for developers and QA
They want to understand what's inside the blackbox
Not all lessons are created equal.
Some lessons we learn are small. They are little reminders along the way of what truly matters. Other lessons are giant. They fundamentally change the course of our entire lives.
Over the past 5 years as an entrepreneur building a B2B AI company for software engineers and quality professionals, this is the single most important lesson I've learned about selling an AI solution to engineers. (I am the co-CEO and co-founder of LaunchableInc, an AI/ML company for software engineers and software QA in the DevOps arena)
Engineers want to understand what’s in the AI black box.
What makes an engineer an engineer is their inherent curiosity to see how things are put together. They want to understand the individual Lego blocks so that they can put them together.
However, diving deep is a dual-edged sword. And here's why.
AI is greenfield; most engineers haven’t learned it in engineering school. Everybody is picking things up today.
Thus, they tend to get lost if you dive deep and don’t have the mental model. Losing engineers on the sales call is especially true if you are with multiple engineers with different backgrounds and skill levels.
It becomes death by a thousand cuts.
On the other hand, if you shield them entirely, you come across as a “marketing” person and lose credibility.
So what’s the solution?
There is a Goldilocks zone. There are edges of a road that you draw for them so that they can traverse the path to you.
Explain your solution using non-AI terms I have learned that the correct pitch is to help people build a mental model and apply their understanding to an existing framework so they can go back and explain what you do to their colleagues.
Help them evaluate your solutions efficacy The second has to help them explain and evaluate the efficacy of the underlying model.
AI brings a new paradigm; people must understand that you likely cannot explain individual decisions, but you must assess the model statistically. I have found the statistical underpinnings weak and consequently prove to be a big challenge with development teams.
There you have it. If you are in sales or product marketing, you need to figure out how to draw these two edges of the road so that prospects can walk the path to you.