I wake up to a fan in my face. I haven’t felt a fan in my face in years. It’s early Tuesday morning, about 24 hours since Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc on our community. For a second, I forgot. I’m on the couch in the TV room, our two Golden Retrievers between me and the fans, and the hum of our generator that’s running the fan and our refrigerator in the distance. I’m alone – my wife and daughter are at the Rosen Plaza, a hotel on International Drive that many of your have seen on your visits to Orlando. I have every intention of making this a normal day, but it’s not a normal day. The soreness in my thighs and lower back are the first to hint that it’s not a normal day, but the adrenaline that’s still pumping through me confirms it … today’s not going to be normal.
I’ve got to fly to Southern California later, so I start working on the house again – picking up where I stopped yesterday. It may not be a normal day, but it’s going to be long. I arrive at the John Wayne Airport in Orange County after 10:00 Pacific Time. Then I remember that I need gas for the generator, and I haven’t checked on our two rental homes yet. I look at Bella and Tucker with excitement and announce: “we’re going for a ride guys”. After loading them into my SUV, I take a left on Summerlin Avenue, and that’s when I saw him. That’s when I saw the one image that any sales professional that sells to technical people needs to see.
My neighbor, Jeff, is mowing his lawn. No kidding. We have debris and downed power lines everywhere. There’s no power. My mom’s community doesn’t have water. Street lights aren’t working, schools are closed, and no one is going to the office today. Heck, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks are closed! Yet, there he is … mowing his yard.
We had spoken the previous day and I knew his family was ok, so I had to stop and ask: “What are you doing? That couldn’t wait?”
Jeff: “It’s Tuesday. I mow the yard on Tuesdays.”
Jeff is an engineer. Jeff doesn’t let the largest recorded hurricane to hit Florida upset his routine. Jeff didn’t look like the rest of us – he was clean-shaven, shirt tucked into his shorts, and ready to roll. Jeff is your customer. Jeff is the Network Administrator, the IT Manager, or the CPA. Jeff doesn’t think in colors or gray … it’s all black and white. I looked around at the rest of our population that day, and no one realized that it was Tuesday. There was no lawn-mowing, no clean-shaven faces, and definitely no tucked-in shirts.
Remember this story, and try to visualize this engineer mowing his yard surrounded by chaos. That’s your technical buyer. Don’t think that your value proposition that works on the masses will also work on these people. They’re different. They’re a little strange. They mow the yard in the aftermath of a hurricane. They’re your customers, and you better understand them.
