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你适合做销售还是技术？你都适合。你有天赋的，别辜负了自己 —— 跨越鸿沟（The Chasm） 聚合营销（Convergence marketing）指在数字化的时代, 基于消费者身上出现的新科技和人类持久的行为习惯的聚合 , 企业通过对不同类型的新科技、多渠道或多手段的组合, 建立、保持和加强与顾客以及其他合作者的关系, 以此使各方的利益得到满足和融合的一种社会和 管理过程。 在社交网络上消费者已经聚合，企业如何实现低成本消费者聚合？ 每天早晨起来看微信， 很容易让人产生一种皇帝批阅奏章， 君临天下的幻觉。国家大事潮水般涌来， 需要迅速作出各种判断，提出各种建议， 做出各种批复，做各种转发。 各种忧国忧民，各种踌躇满志，各种醒世恒言，各种美容美食美方子......世间万物皆备于我。 每个人心中都藏着一个披星戴月上朝堂的皇帝梦， 微信把人的这种情结激活了。据说，每一次点赞的意思是：朕知道了！ —— 你的评论和点赞让你的小伙伴了解了你发现问题解决问题的优势。 Scott McGregor 《启动投资生命周期》（Start-up Investor Life Cycle, 2013） 本文着眼于一个创业公司生命周期的每个阶段所对应的客户,销售人员和投资者的个性特征。我们注意到在不同的阶段有先决条件要求的某些个性会导致不同的购买,销售,或投资。企业家筹集资金的工作也就是在销售公司,所以在企业生命周期的不同阶段能获得成功的销售代表类型的规则也可以适用于企业家。通过理解这些个性和先决条件,企业家可以在不同的阶段更好地招聘合适的销售人员,以及更好地将精力关注到正确投资者上。核心问题就是知道在什么时候迅速叫停而不是尽力说服消费者和投资者转型为其他的客户类型。 This article looks at the personalities of customers, sales reps and investors, at each stage in a start-up company’s life cycle. We note that there are pre-requisites required by certain personalities that prevent different ones from buying, selling, or investing at different phases. The entrepreneur’s job in raising money is selling the company, so the rules about which sales rep type can be successful in different phases of the company life cycle also apply to the entrepreneurs as well. By understanding these personalities and pre-requisites, entrepreneurs can do a better job of hiring the right sales rep for the phase they are in — as well as better focus their own efforts on investors. A key lesson is to know when to cut bait quickly instead of trying to convince a buyer or investor to become a personality type they are not.
背景:在产品(或公司)生命周期的不同阶段有不同类型的买家 在其他的文章中我经常谈论杰弗里·摩尔在他的《跨越鸿沟》一书中所提出的技术采用生命周期。在书中,摩尔指出,在任何给定的时间内只有某些类型的潜在客户会采用该技术。更深入地讲,他认为在整个产品的生命周期中技术采用曲线呈钟形,最初只有一个小尾巴,开始时增长缓慢,接着变快,然后下降,最后以同样的方式衰落。摩尔还指出,每一种类型的客户有一定的个性特征和预期,客户选择产品之前必须确保满足客户的特点和预期。 摩尔特别声称,只有少量的技术爱好者在采用一种产品之前是已经证明了它的价值。技术爱好者不在乎证明价值,因为他们的自我特征就是最先看到事情并在别人之前弄清楚该事物的价值。这些是唯一会报名参加你的α或β测试的人——即便你只进行了一个工作演示。 远见者是具有冒险精神的但是没有前者那么不受约束。他们想利用一种新技术,使它成为一个战略优势,所以技术现必须是在可用的,但它证明价值的能力仍然可以投机,因为有远见的认为,捕捉价值是他们作为远见者的个人贡献——他们将找出如何使用这项技术来满足自己的需求。 早期的实用主义者不想弄清楚如何修改或应用新技术。他们想要一个经过验证的成功故事,但如果他们正面临严重的竞争问题他们可能会采取一些未经证明的故事,而通过一个工作产品或服务来表明新技术可以解决需求。晚实用主义者甚至不会冒这个险,他们需要一些证明成功的故事,将只购买被验证过的产品,因为这些已验证的故事专门解决他们当前的需求。保守派甚至出现地更晚,他们需要已不仅仅是一些成功的故事——他们需要知道市场怎么表现,但他们实际上因为延迟的采用这些技术在竞争中已经落后了。 Background: There are different kinds of buyers in different phases of a product (or company life cycle) In other articles I have often talked about the Technology Adoption Life Cycle promulgated by Geoffrey Moore in his book Crossing the Chasm. In that book, Moore points out that only certain types of prospective customers will adopt a technology at any given time. Going more in depth, he posits that the adoption curve over the entire product life cycle is a bell curve, so initially there is only a small tail, which initially grows slowly, then faster, then levels off, and finally falls off in the same way. Moore also points out that each of these types of customers has certain personality traits and expectations that must be met before the customer will adopt the product. In particular, Moore claims that only a small number of Technology Enthusiasts will adopt a product before it has proven its value. Technology Enthusiasts don’t care about proven value, because their personal ego is all about seeing things first and figuring out that value before anyone else. These are the only people who will sign up to participate in your alpha or beta test — even before you have a working demonstration. Visionaries are adventurous, but not quite so brazen. They want to capitalize on a new technology and make it a strategic advantage, so the technology has to be available now — but it’s ability to prove value can remain speculative, because the visionary sees that capturing that value is their personal contribution as visionaries– they will figure out how to use the technology to meet their own needs. Early pragmatists don’t want to figure out how to modify or apply a new technology. They want a proven success story, but they might adopt something without such a proven story if they are facing a severe competitive problem, and a working product or service can be shown the new technology can address it. Late pragmatists won’t even take that risk — they’ll require several proven success stories, and will buy only because those stories specifically address their immediate needs. Conservatives come even later, and it isn’t just a few success stories they need — they need to know that the market has spoken and that they are actually falling behind in competitiveness by delaying the adoption of these technologies any longer.
不同类型的销售人员需要不同类型的客户销售 杰夫·考克斯和霍华德·史蒂文斯写的《轮胎销售》,实际上给了我们在每个阶段可以成功的销售人员的人格类型建议。他们的核心观点在于不只是不同的阶段客户类型不同，每个阶段的销售人员的性格类型也会不同，只有特定类型的销售人员能够在这个阶段获得成功。 在销售过程的开始尚未成型的产品只能卖给技术爱好者。但由于这些技术爱好者只占总市场的2.5%。只有能快速处理大量拒绝切实数据——97.5%的销售人员能成功。可以处理这一水平的拒绝的销售人员不是很多,而且大多数的销售人员勇敢地花费数小时试图说服错误类型的(后期)人。关闭者类型的人员能够处理这类拒绝不会受困于试图说服其他类型的顾客像技术爱好者一样行事的错误。相反地，他们能够很快地区分出“谁不属于2.5%”然后继续寻找目标。其他类型的销售人员最终不得不告诉他们的主管,他们需要等待,直到产品已经完备,或者出现有迹可寻的成功故事,等等,因为他们局限在在成为一个很好的说客并一直试图说服一个实用主义者或者保守者(他们寻找的大多数人群)像一个技术爱好者那样行事。 在早期阶段，对于拥有大量老顾客资源的销售人员——考克斯和史蒂文斯称之为人脉建立者来说是一场灾难。人脉和顾客关系是他们最宝贵的资产,他们不能冒险让顾客(主要是实用主义者和保守者)接触没有被证明成功或可能会失败的产品,因为他们想把这些顾客关系一直维系下去。关闭者类型的销售人员则相反他们迅速排除掉不能迅速对未验证产品或者蓝图做出反应的顾客。巫师类型的销售人员是帮助具有远见的消费者制定个性化方案的最佳人选，但是当你想要一个更广泛的方案——涵盖全部市场而不是半客户化的方案时问题就出现了。船长和船员类型的销售者是当你不再需要销售产品概念时所需的销售人员，这时你需要的是能够有效进行订单沟通具有大量经验的销售人员来使你的产品显得差异化——这正是保守者所需的。 Different types of sales reps are needed to sell to the different types of customers. Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens penned Selling the Wheel, which actually gives us advice on the personality type of the sales reps that can be successful at each stage. Their keen insight is that not only are customers different at different stages, but the personalities and habits of sales reps vary too, and only certain types of sales reps can be successful selling at each stage. At the beginning of the sales process before the product ships it can only be sold to Technology Enthusiasts. But since these Technology Enthusiasts only represent 2.5% of the total market. The sales rep can only succeed by quickly handling a lot of rejections — 97.5% in fact. Not many sales reps can handle that level of rejection, and most will spend hours valiantly trying to convince the wrong (later stage) people. The Closerpersonality can handle the rejection, and won’t get caught up in trying to convince the other types to act like a Technology Enthusiast. Instead, they are quick to say “they don’t get it” and move on. Other types often get trapped into telling their management that they need to wait — until the product is ready, or they have success stories, etc. because they get stuck on being great convincers and keep trying to convince a pragmatist or conservative (the majority of the people they talk to) to act like a Technology Enthusiast. Sales reps with big rolodexes of past customers, which Cox and Stevens call Builderswould be a disaster at this early stage. Their rolodex and relationships are their most prized assets and they can’t risk exposing their (mostly pragmatist and conservative) contacts to something that doesn’t have a proven success and might actually fail., since they want to call these same contacts over and over again. The Closer instead cuts bait quickly on anyone who doesn’t respond now to the promise or dream. Similarly, theWizard, is perfect to help Visionaries create their own solutions, but becomes problematic when you want to create broad solutions that cover the market not semi-custom solutions. And the Captain and Crew is what you need when there is no selling of the concept required — there is only efficient order taking and a great buying experience to differentiate your product — exactly what the Conservatives need.
Scott McGregor 《启动投资生命周期》（Start-up Investor Life Cycle, 2013） 客户类型（Customer Type）：创新者（Innovators）2.5% →The Chasm → 早期采用者（Early adopters）13.5% → 早期大众（Early majority）34% → 晚期大众（Late majority）34% → 落后者（Laggards）16%
销售代表类型（Sales Rep Type）：Closer（外交家+点子+专业师）→The Chasm → Wizard（协调者+推进者+评价者）→ Buiider（合作者+完善者+贯彻者）→ Captain & Crew Jeff Cox & Howard Stevens Selling the Wheel Pre-requisite To selling： opprtunity Dream → Working Tech. → Success Storles → Ubiquitous Adoption
投资者的类型（Investor Type）：Seed, 3Fs（合伙人）→The Chasm → Angel（天使投资）→ VC → Mezzanine → Publlc Markets（IPO） Start-up Investment Life Cycle Pre-requisite To Investing：Oppotunity Dream → werking reach. → Early Sales "Traction" → Rapid Growth → Neme Recognition & market Share Dminance 以下是对于不同类型的销售人员来说产品不同销售阶段所需的首要条件 如图所示，我相信,正如买家在每个阶段需要建立先决条件,每种销售人员类型成功之前也有必须到位的先决条件。 There are product stage pre-requisites for each type of sales rep As you can see in the attached diagram, I believe that just as there are prerequisites that buyers at each stage require to build, there are also prerequisites that must be in place before each type of sales rep can be a success. 创业投资者的生命周期:投资者有不同类型,每个类型也都有与产品生命周期相匹配的投资先决条件。 今天我想谈论的是,对于投资者来说,也有一个类似的生命周期并且与基本先决条件还没有被满足的投资者谈企业家会浪费大量的时间。 正如技术爱好者只占客户市场的一小部分,只有少数的投资者将近2.5%的人愿意仅基于一个故事或梦想进行投资。当你产品尚未成型时只有这些投资者值得交谈。这些通常是你的朋友、家人和傻子(即3 fs)称他们为种子投资者。 其他投资者则希望确保技术风险已经克服,直到工作原型或测试证明你可以如你表示的那样实际构建工作,且此时需要的仅仅是生产成本费用时投资者才会进行投资。这些人通常是天使投资人——尽管许多自称天使投资者,但实际上不是——你很快就会发现他们,因为他们不断向你寻问可被证明成功的迹象。很不幸,这可能是一个创业者最艰难的阶段,因为有很多小型私人投资者可能自称天使,但其冒险程度更接近VC,中间人甚至公众投资者。 还有另一种早期的私人投资者希望看到产品风险或市场引入风险已经解决,他们可以通过投入资金来扩大市场。从经验上看,这些都是风险资本家——又一个应基于投资者行为进行划分的投资者类型,而不是他们的公司名字,因为许多风投只做中间人投资,一些做天使投资实际上在技术能被证明和之前的产品已经达到了市场后还有希望看到有牵引。具有讽刺意味的是,大多数通常自称种子风投基金的风投那些行为在我看来应该叫天使,,尽管除了在资本密集型制造业和能源企业他们几乎总是在3 fs之后介入投资的。 中间人投资者通常只在市场有一些成功后投资,投资的目的是确保市场的成熟和作为参与者占据市场份额的主导地位。根据摩尔的理论,任何参与者在市场开始阶(摩尔称之为“保龄球馆”阶段)的大多数时期进入市场可以成为未来的主导地位。在中后期阶段期大多数时期(“龙卷风”阶段),市场正在迅速增长,这时市场段划分为一个或两个“大猩猩”,少数“黑猩猩”和其他的小公司。这个阶段结束,市场成熟,大猩猩和黑猩猩互相争夺份额,但对小公司则很难有发展空间。这就是为什么风投和中间投资者在此时煽风点火刺激大众。 最后,如果公司在市场成熟阶段实现市场主导地位,它可以通过IPO从公众筹集资金。这里的股票购买者会通过他们熟知的企业品牌和经营记录选择他们的购买对象。 对于企业家来说这显然是一个可以从《轮胎销售》中学到的道理。他们需要在筹集资金的不同阶段向正确的对象融资,就像他们需要正确的销售人员在那个阶段销售他们的产品。许多企业家很难通过种子和天使阶段,因为他们急迫得想要说服后期大部分的风险投资者或中间人成为种子和天使投资者，这些人的确是占了投资者的很大一部分，但是他们只会选择等待。 在这种情况下最严重的问题之一,是当企业家失去面对更广阔领域的勇气,盲从于“你只有一个机会来给人留下第一印象”。这句谚语本身是没有问题的但是用在这个例子上却是不正确的。后期投资者知道,他们对你感兴趣之前你需要跳过有很多障碍。他们乐于看到你跳过障碍的记录。你很有可能在他们“稍后的阶段”获得机会。 但是能成功在种子和天使投资者那里筹集到钱的企业家,不会花很多时间试图说服那些很容易找到后期投资者。他们努力找到可以把现金投放在大多仍处于蓝图阶段的种子和天使投资者——他们为赢得这类型的投资者努力做最完美的准备。 如果他们成功了,将会有足够的时间来进行下一轮的准备寻找风投家和中间人，而且他们能够雇佣一个与这个群体有相同人格的财务总监来帮助他们。 如果你是一个早期的企业家正在努力说服投资者把钱投入你的公司,问问你自己你是否试图说服那些容易找到的后期投资者成为罕见的种子和天使投资者——或者你是否花了足够的时间区分出谁会为你的蓝图买单而谁则不会。 Startup Investor Life Cycle : There are different types of investors, each with their own prerequisites of investing, which also matches the product life cycle. What I wanted to talk about today is that there is also a similar life cycle for investors, and entrepreneurs can waste a lot of time talking to investors whose basic prerequisites haven’t already been met. Just like Technology Enthusiasts only make up a small part of the customer market, only a small number of investors will be in that 2.5% who are willing to invest based upon a story or dream alone. Only these investors are worth being talked to when you are pre-product. These are typically your Friends, Family and Fools (3Fs) seed investors. Other investors will want to be sure that the technology risk has been overcome - by waiting until a working prototype or beta test is proves you can actually build it to work like you said it would for a manufacturing cost that works. This is typically the Angelrealm – although while many investors call themselves Angels, some aren’t — you’ll know them because they keep asking for signs of traction. Unfortunately, this can be one of the hardest phases for entrepreneurs, because there are a lot of small private investors who may call themselves angels, but whose risk profile is more consistent with VC, Mezzanine or even Public investors. There is another early private investor who wants to see the product risk or market introduction risk addressed, but then can through in money to grow that market. Historically, these are the Venture Capitalists — though again an investor should segment investors based on behavior, not the words in their firm name, as many VCs only do Mezzanine round investing, and some actually do Angel style investing after the technology is proven and before the product has reached the market Still others want to see that there is traction. Ironically, most of those VCs who act at the level I call Angel, usually call themselves Seed VC funds, even though they almost always come after the 3Fs, except in capital intensive manufacturing and energy businesses. Mezzanine round investors typically only invest after there is some success in the market, and the purpose of that investment is to ensure that the market matures with the start-up as a player with dominant market share. According to Moore’s theory, any player in the market at the beginning of the pragmatist phase (which Moore calls the “bowling alley” phase) can become a future dominant player. During the mid to latter part of the pragmatist phase, (the “Tornado” phase), the market is growing rapidly, and the market segments into a “Gorilla” or two, a handful of big “chimps” and the rest of the players stay small. As this phase ends, the market is mature and the Gorillas and Chimps fight for share with each other, but there is relatively little movement upward for small firms. That’s why VCs and Mezzanine investors pour in their fuel at this time. Lastly, if the company achieves market dominance and the market is mature, it may be able to raise money from the Public through an IPO. Here the buyers are looking for the name they know and an ongoing track record. There’s obviously a lesson here for entrepreneurs to be taken from Selling the Wheel too. They need to have the right personality for raising money in the phase they are in, just like they need the right sales person to sell their product in that stage. Many entrepreneurs have a hard time maneuvering through the Seed and Angel stages, because temperamentally, they want to convince the big later stage VCs and Mezzanine investors who are a much greater portion of the investor market place, but who will just keep waiting. One of the worst problems that sometimes happens in this case is when entrepreneurs become paralyzed about shopping their deal too widely, and parroting the old saw “you only have one opportunity to make a first impression”. While there is truth in that saying, there is also a lie. Later stage investors know that there are many hurdles to jump over before they will be interested in you. But they like to see a track record of you jumping over hurdles. You might get a chance to come back to them “at a later stage”. But the entrepreneurs who are most successful at raising Seed and Angel money, don’t spend a lot of time trying to convince these later stage investors who are easy to find. The work harder to find the Seed and Angel investors who can actually put cash on the line for a business that is still in the mostly dream phase — and they polish their pitches for that type of investor. If they succeed, there will be time enough to build the next round of pitches for the VCs and Mezzanine rounds — and they will be able to hire a CFO with the personality to help them with this group.
If you are an early stage entrepreneur who is struggling to convince investors to put money into your company, ask yourself if you are trying to convince the easy to find late stage investors to become the much rarer seed and angel investors — or if you are spending enough time trying to segment out those who will buy a dream from those who won’t.
技术采用生命周期（技术采用生命周期）钟形曲线（钟形曲线）为1957年爱荷华州农业和机械艺术学院（爱荷华州立大学）为分析玉米种子采购行为所提出。起先，该概念的提出并未获得许多回响，一直到：
Rogers, EM （1976）. New Product Adoption and Diffusion. Journal of Consumer Research. （March）. p290-301. |
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