This past week I was contracted to redo a module in a web application because the sales team was misrepresenting that part of the application in their sales process. The sales team wasn’t trying to mislead anyone, they honestly thought that part of the application did everything they thought it did. It didn’t and no one could really give me a straight answer on what that part of the application could do. After some lengthy discussions it became apparent that neither sales, marketing, or the company truly knew their product. No wonder their customers were mad!
Not knowing your own product/service can damage your company and lose you customers. The simple fact is how can you sell your product/service with confidence and be able to guarantee your customer that your product/service does what you say it can if you don’t know your own product? On top of that, your company can be sued if you tell your customer your product/service can do one thing but it can’t. That is false advertising and can get you in a lot of trouble.
What can you do to make sure everyone in your company knows your product or service? Simply train them; prepare them.
- Create documentation and keep it up to date. Make it easy to search. Have a section for commonly asked questions. Make the documentation readily available. Those who had a hand in creating the product/service should help when creating documentation, they will know the product the best.
- Train everyone in your company as you would train a customer. This will help your employees see your product/service from a customer’s perspective. Test your employees knowledge to make sure they understand the product/service.
- When your company comes out with a new product/service or new documentation is created, train your employees immediately.
- Create a sales process and marketing from your documentation. If it doesn’t say it in the documentation, it doesn’t do it. Period.
With proper training and documentation it will allow your employees to know your product/service. Your company will be able to market, sell, and support your products/services better. The customer will be able to understand and use your product/service with confidence, knowing they bought what they were sold.
