From development to sales: How software vendors manage your typical customers

What is the significance of typical users?
There are two important links in the technical decision of a Project: product demonstration and user test. Both links are important and are often completed within a short period of time (relative to the entire project tracking cycle, it should even be treated as the most important work before and after sales.
Nowadays, many users are very afraid of being fooled by software vendors. They pay special attention to the inspection work, and even call the phone to perform unannounced investigations without introducing the supplier, some worried that we had a tacit understanding through prior contact. They also took the initiative to call several more people to learn about the software application.
It is very common that projects cannot be won because there is no demonstration of user applications in the relevant industry, or because the test results of typical users are poor.
A good typical user does not need to emphasize the significance of the pre-sales project. business users understand this point. However, a typical user is not only meaningful to the pre-sales project, it has a greater significance for implementation planning.
Generally, typical user applications are relatively deep, and many successful experiences are often accumulated. These experiences are often mature routines and can be summarized and popularized to other similar users to achieve quick implementation benefits. It should be said that each typical user corresponds to a complete implementation model of the eXtensible Business implementation, which deserves a good conclusion.
Typical user applications are more in-depth and can often put forward more and more valuable needs. These needs can promote product development, and typical users are willing to cooperate with us for a long time, by analyzing typical user needs and business models in detail, software vendors can shorten the time required to understand the business of the industry and form effective product plans to guide product development.
A typical user is the key to a company's marketing and development team's confidence. General Company developers cannot directly care about users, but the marketing and implementation are different. If a company cannot find a typical user everywhere, the marketing and implementation work of this company will not go smoothly, the flow of personnel will be very frequent, and we do not have enough confidence in the company. If a company has a group of successful users, all employees will basically put their energy into the business, because everyone will feel that since others can succeed, I should also have the opportunity to succeed, instead of blaming the company for being unable to do the same thing here, there is no such thing as it is not in place.

Like the product demonstration, typical user management is also a system project, which can be implemented without a crash. If you want to manage typical users, you should have a dedicated person at the company level to determine their posts and responsibilities for management. If you do not have a dedicated person to manage typical user information, your business will surely suffer problems.
Typical user management should go through three layers:

First, we need to screen out the typical users that are most beneficial to the company's market work. These users can be identified by the customer ABC Classification during pre-sales tracking, in this way, even if some customers do not have a large project amount during their first cooperation, they can guarantee resources and invest heavily in the project implementation process.
Generally, the following seven factors are taken into account when selecting a typical user name:
1) application effects: three types of users can be typical users. First, users who have successfully applied a large number of applications, and the best typical users are users who require a large number of people to use the system to work in their actual business every day, users who have a good reference in the implementation process, so that users with practical application results can trust the capabilities of other users. Second, some applications are not big enough, however, basic data is basically input and can be implemented by typical business flows. Third, users with distinctive features can also be used as typical users. Of course, the actual application effect is the primary factor for selecting a typical user.
2) Business relationships: Typical users are users who wish to provide publicity for the company. These users should agree with the software company's products as senior executives, middle-level cadres, and grassroots operators, we are willing to recommend products of software companies. If there is no good business relationship, users may even have opinions on software companies. Even if the application is good, we should also consider whether it is suitable for typical users. Typical users' business relationships should always be tracked and maintained by dedicated personnel. maintenance by the customer manager and implementation manager alone is not reliable.
3) industry influence: The bigger the influence, the better. In general, the most influential user companies in the industry should be treated differently in the business and implementation time zone, with a focus on investment, rather than simply being subject to the project amount, otherwise, the service resources may be insufficient.
4) There are a wide range of business applications. In terms of technical information software, it is necessary to consider that typical users should cover at least two R & D modes: design, process, and process, if there is a design without a process, you can directly see the type of the design with the process. Otherwise, the user may feel that they have not seen what they want. Designed users should cover a 3D software and a 2D software. In this way, the test results can be comprehensive and complete, with a wide range of business types, rather than the success of a user's implementation, the visit will have a good effect, you need to select a business application as rich as possible. Generally, different from the production mode (single-piece, multi-type, small batch, and large batch), enterprises with rich business applications must select several types to meet the needs of users of different production types.
5) regional radiation. A typical user's geographical location should be convenient for transportation. Otherwise, the customer's transportation cost will be increased, and the company's reception cost will be increased, and it will not be able to play a long-term radiation effect. A national company must consider establishing a network of typical users that can be visited and inspected nationwide. Only a few typical users visit and inspected the users themselves, which is also a huge harassment and a lot of regional users, it is difficult for customers who are not convenient to conduct provincial surveys to achieve effective radiation.
6) service resources. A typical user is not necessarily a user who solves all the problems and is often a user who frequently needs services. Because the application is deep, there are many requirements, and the system cannot be stopped, A stop is prone to problems. However, a typical user often needs to assist the software company in some visits and inspections. In this case, it is often necessary to solve some software application problems in advance, so that a typical user can have a good status before the test, so that if a typical user has no service resources at all, there will always be problems.
7) Introduction of resources. A major factor in the timeliness of reception by typical users is whether the company can communicate with each other and who have clearly explained the problems in the implementation process of business and information technology, if there is a person who has outstanding business capabilities and is fully involved in the project implementation process, it is best to introduce the actual situation of the project.
The typical user confirmation may not be based on whether the list can be immediately referenced, but should be determined based on the above factors, and then through a series of efforts to make these users a user who can visit and inspect.

Typical User Classification, determining Service Modes
After confirming the typical user name list, you should immediately classify the typical user based on the actual visit results.
The first typical user is a typical user who can arrange visits at any time.
The second typical user type is a typical user that can be publicized but is inconvenient or unwilling to receive visits.
The third category is non-public information and oral presentations before sales.
The fourth category is users that cannot be publicly introduced or publicized, and some typical users with poor applications.
The first type of users should strengthen business contacts, sign promotional cooperation agreements, and ensure regular visits to services, so that typical users can enjoy long-term cooperation with us;
The third and second types of typical users should determine whether resources can be invested to the first type based on the situation. The second type of users will gradually convert to the first type of typical users in a company, the market reputation is getting better, and even the service price can be improved.
Users in the first, second, and third categories should clearly define detailed service models, implement them to specific implementation departments or regional teams for management, and regularly check whether service work is completed and quality, in this way, a closed-loop management system can be formed without verbal attention. In fact, there is no benefit (most projects in China cannot be charged at present) to ensure that there is no resource investment.
The fourth type of users is also very important. Some users are well-known in the industry or in the local area, but the software company has suffered a battle here, therefore, the company must dynamically review such user names in the solution, company introduction, and external provision of a typical user name list, so as not to be passive when potential customers ask for consultation or ask for a visit.