Microsoft's Recession Pitch

Interesting article in yesterday's The Seattle Times titled "Microsoft refines recession pitch". It kind of details how Microsoft basically changed their pitch to customers to be very specific around saving money.

"It's been the most successful campaign and initiatives we've ever launched in Microsoft in immediately getting and resonating with customers," Turner said.

"What customer isn't going to give you an appointment if you've got 13, 14, 15 things to help them derive business value and show them the ability to save money?"

The last line of the quote above is one that I have direct experience with. I could ask this question: "Would you have time to discuss product X with our team and how your company could benefit from its use?" versus "Would you be interested in learning how we can help your company save xx% with our product X?"

Guess which one question gets you in the door almost 100% of the time?

Ladies and gentleman, software is about saving money through automation, operational efficiency, etc. You need to be able to show that value. In this climate, the customers I have been dealing with are telling me if I can't show concrete ROI within 12 months I might as well not pitch the story!

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