Evangelism in the computer world or how you can express a love for a software product

image

I have met many different positions, but IT Evangelists are probably one of the most unusual names in my practice, and I have been very pleased to hold this position for the past few years. Almost always, to the question “What do you work with? / What are you doing?” I think for a few seconds and my answers range from “Marketer” to “I share with others the truth about life.” These facts, as well as the long-standing desire to publish something useful on the GT, helped write this little story that someone might find useful. I hope that IT companies will be able to see (or find out) the benefits in such specialists, and we, emotional employees, will be able to realize ourselves in this area.

The history of evangelists in information technology, according to Wikipedia, began almost 30 years ago, but since then I have met only a few of my colleagues. What do they (we) do? All of them are united by an emotional attachment to the technologies with which they work, together with work experience and the ability to infect others with the same passion. The first evangelist is Guy Kawasaki , who promoted one of the first Macintosh to Apple. Later, Steve himself was recognized as an evangelist, and they began to appear in large companies - IBM, Amazon, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and even Master Card. Pebble watches were a great success largely due to love and faith in the product, Forbes often mentions this term, and LinkedIn gives detailed statistics on my colleagues.

Who are we and how do we work


For the past 15 years, I have been working in the field of consulting on systems that automate the processes of financial planning, budgeting, reporting, and, in part, business analysis. I started from a position in the technical support group and during that time I was both an expert, a project manager and a direction manager. During this time, I was lucky to work with all the major market leaders (Oracle Hyperion, IBM TM1, SAP, Adaptive Planning, Board, etc.), but I only really enjoyed working with one product (the name does not matter for this article, also one of the leaders from Gartner's squares). This solution allowed me to go beyond the standard settings without the need to write code, without extra clicks and really help clients with their tasks. That’s how I began to describe this decision within the company, as a result of which we began to propose this solution more often as part of tenders. The sellers noticed that my colleagues trust me and began to invite me to meetings with customers to demonstrate the solution. And the customers, in addition to the technical characteristics, really liked the fact that I sincerely believed in what I showed them. Therefore, provided that we could agree on the remaining conditions (rates, terms, frames, etc.), clients more often chose us and I had another interesting project. As a result, a mutually beneficial story began, which eventually led me to the very vendor-producer of the system and the offer to work as an evangelist. really liked the fact that I sincerely believed in what I showed them. Therefore, provided that we could agree on the remaining conditions (rates, terms, frames, etc.), clients more often chose us and I had another interesting project. As a result, a mutually beneficial story began, which eventually led me to the very vendor-producer of the system and the offer to work as an evangelist. really liked the fact that I sincerely believed in what I showed them. Therefore, provided that we could agree on the remaining conditions (rates, terms, frames, etc.), clients more often chose us and I had another interesting project. As a result, a mutually beneficial story began, which eventually led me to the very vendor-producer of the system and the offer to work as an evangelist.

What did I manage to realize during this time?

This is an individual need.

Not everyone wants to be evangelists.
  • Some employees want to solve technical problems and they like the process of product introduction / development. They do not want to waste time communicating with customers, promotion and emotions, they are interested in technology and development in this area.
  • others go entirely into the business and they lose touch with technical solutions. Such specialists usually go to customers, move to the side of sales or occupy managerial positions.
  • and someone likes the sales process itself, but they don’t want to be sellers. In this case, they go into presale, where it is necessary to know the capabilities of the product and have some experience in implementation.
  • Obviously, there are many other types that depend on the industry and direction, but the idea is the same - they want to develop in a different direction.

Balance the load

If the company decided that they need an evangelist, do not strangle him with work. Most consulting companies are based on the principles of resource utilization and it is therefore vital to bring evangelists out of this process. For the last 2-3 years I participated in many projects, but only twice the client paid money for this. In all other projects, I was a visiting expert, raising faith in the product and project, and at the same time absolutely free for the client. Naturally, my free help may not be long, but it is enough to improve the quality of the project and communications, as well as build a more long-term relationship with the client.
A couple of real life download examples
In my previous company, I had the goal of working about 50% on projects, and one of the very fast-growing competitors right now introduced a new structure - Customer Success. The employees in it are essentially evangelists, who work about 33% on ongoing projects, 33% on maintaining relations with large direct and partner clients, conferences, building a community. The remaining 33% - work with partners - trainings, demonstrations, relationship development.

Evangelists, like everyone else, must develop.

Such employees must remain professionals - let them learn new products, promote ideas, organize meetings to exchange experiences, and share the results of other projects with them. They are motivated by the success of projects, they sincerely want to improve the product and therefore they are usually very loyal - do not be afraid to introduce them to competitive products - this is unlikely to increase the risk of losing such specialists, but it will definitely bring new ideas.

Use them internally.

Remember that their passion is contagious. Give them a call at internal meetings, organize seminars where they will talk about their experiences and products, send them newcomers! People will be more loyal to your product / service, as well as to the company. Solid pluses!

So why is all this to me?


To summarize, what can you get:

  • We help develop the business. Adding an evangelist to a sales team, especially strategic ones, increases the chances of a successful completion of a sale. The last big deal in which I participated brought the company more than $ 5 million. This does not replace the role of presale and seller, but perfectly complements when more detailed work is required by a potential client.
  • We do product advertising. From scratch, I built an online community with more than 1,500 participants in total. This raises the status of the product, its recognition in the market, and also plays a large role in the same sales. The ideal combination is interaction with a marketing group that will help you to draw up the correct text or will be asked to report a big event within the company.
  • We solve problems. I often travel / meet / call up projects where there are problems. Since evangelicals should not sell their services, they are more open in problems and can find solutions not only on the client side, but also on “their” side. Perhaps the service was provided poorly or there really is a flaw in the program that needs to be fixed.
  • And yes, we are developing a product. Evangelista meet with b about lshim number of existing customers than any other role. They constantly receive feedback and suggestions for improving the service / product. Therefore, it is vitally necessary to give them the opportunity to submit these proposals for discussion with the development team or as part of discussions of current processes in the company. Obviously, not all proposals will be implemented, but many will improve the quality of the services / product provided.
  • And we increase motivation. Our passion for the product always causes a certain mockery, but it also helps to unite the team. Real stories about successful projects help others work more productively, so that there are even more such stories.

I hope this story will help other companies improve their business thanks to my emotional colleagues, and employees who understand that they want something more than just technical work will find themselves in this publication. I will be glad to tell the details and answer questions about my current job or just about working in global vendors (or about working in Australia).

PS: A little about the author
I currently work in Australia (Melbourne) with Infor, a global vendor with 20,000 employees and 90,000 customers worldwide. Formally, I work as part of a development group, but I do everything except development - product implementation, sales assistance, training, administering and moderating forums, organizing seminars and partnership events.

Also popular now: