I had the chance to speak at a new client's national sales meeting last week. It's a relatively young technology company with a truly innovative technology, the kind that almost sells itself to the right people. The staff and sales team is a group of enthusiastic "true believers" in the technology.

The leader is the reason I was there - because he knows that no technology really sells itself and believes that they need to sell the value of their technology to people who can buy it. The people who get charged up about the technology can't really invest in it, and they need to get to people who can. He also knows that if they are going to be successful, they have to find a way to equate the technology with the ability to help the customer accomplish objectives and address issues. He's obviously got the right idea, and has his team doing the right research on the customers - understanding their business direction and technology needs. The next step is getting to the right level of decision maker and blowing them away with compelling business presentations. That's what we're working on now. This leader gets it - no matter how good and unique the technology is, you still have to sell the business value to the right people!