Expert's Panel

A collection of timely and important topics posed to our panel of experts.

How can you impose restraint an over enthusiastic technologist when you have him participate in marketing business? Correcting him in public is rude, but you don't want misstatements to stand.

 (ep1091)
1. When a marketing or sales person takes a technologist in to see a customer, make sure, up-front, that everyone knows what you are going in there to do. Identify what their role is in the call; what they will be called upon to answer; and what they should stay away from. They need to be prepared. Sit close to them so you tap them or grab a knee. If the person persists, then you be rude—just cut them off. That is the extreme, but it does happen once in a while when you get a hard head technologist.
2. Pre-call planning should be 60% of a call. Part of that is not being afraid to tell the technologist that we have to be careful what we say to the customers; our words are establishing expectations for them. A technologist can kill an existing product when it needs to feed your company until your new product comes out. Be harsh and don't be embarrassed about cutting him off.
3. One of the problems we deal with in selling is what people say versus what people hear. Let's say typical machine output is 60-65 wafers per hour and you take the technologist in who says "We're shooting for 112 wafers per hour." What did the customer hear—minimum of 112. You come out with the new tool at 85 wph, substantially better than everyone else, and what does the customer think? It's an absolute failure. Educating that technologist ahead of time is absolutely crucial.