The road to innovation is tortuous, how can makers avoid the disaster of sales?

The market sales capabilities of the maker team are uneven. Who is the winner when innovative products are introduced to the market?

Focusing on the exhibition, the maker market is booming

October is the golden autumn, which is a harvest season. The active presence of makers can be seen everywhere, especially in the exhibition and buyers, investors Where there is direct communication, the makers are even more motivated and show their magical powers.

At the fall 2016 Global Sources Electronics Show, the expanded Startup Launchpad was particularly noticeable. As the vane of innovation and development in the electronics industry, this year's "Maker Space" not only brings together the best Maker teams from all over the world, but also the exhibition area organized by IndieGoGo, Hong Kong's Cyberport and the Korean government (Korea-Champ). Many surprises. The dazzling array of creative products and cool technologies have attracted the attention of many buyers, makers and media at home and abroad. Mr. Tang, the head of Lanwei Technology Co., Ltd., an exhibitor in the makerspace, introduced to the CEConlines: "This exhibition has gained a lot and discovered potential cooperation markets. Some VR manufacturers took the initiative to find us through the exhibition, hoping to bring our The WIFI co-screen device is applied to their VR products, which is a cooperative market that we have never thought of before.”

The start-up team faces the market, and it is difficult to make efforts in sales

In the maker space, although every booth was full of people and the conversation was hot, the reporter still found that some exhibitors from the maker team were not so smooth in their communication with buyers. Compared with the core members of the maker team, these employees lack pre-show training, are not familiar with the company's products, do not understand market positioning, and do not know how to effectively market products. Faced with this situation, buyers often show a look of helplessness, and their willingness for further consultation is directly wiped out, and the result is naturally unsatisfactory.

Exhibition gives these start-up teams the opportunity to see the performance of other outstanding makers from all over the world at the exhibition site, and also allows them to discover their own shortcomings: there is a market but cannot seize opportunities, and there are personnel But they can't sell products!

Makers are tested at the exhibition, and there is a future for internal strength upgrade

After visiting, the CEConlines found that the structure of the excellent Maker team members is often more reasonable , the core members have complementary capabilities and each play their own advantages, and the company's overall performance is outstanding. Some of them have rich work experience, and some are not even starting a business for the first time. The overall performance of the team composed of these people is still significantly different from that of inexperienced entrepreneurial teams.

Due to the unique company situation of the maker team, most of the funds and energy are invested in product research and development and finding investors, and it is difficult to build a marketing and sales team. Poaching sales talents who are familiar with the product industry and have customer resources, usually need generous treatment to attract them, but for a maker team or a start-up company with limited funds, after hiring R&D personnel with high salaries, there is no more money to bear. Salary of sales personnel; in addition, excellent sales personnel will evaluate the high risk of the maker team and the impact on their own careers, and their willingness to enter the maker enterprise is not strong.

The contradiction between supply and demand of marketing talents is an objective existence, but at present, many maker companies have explored ways to get rid of the embarrassment. First of all, the entrepreneurial team needs to find an experienced recruitment partner to identify suitable market sales candidates; secondly, the core founder of the entrepreneurial team must work hard, have in-depth analysis and understanding of the industry, and understand the market and competitors. Have a clear understanding, so that when communicating with marketing and sales candidates, they can understand the team's own market understanding and strategic deployment, and then have a sense of identity with the team from the bottom of their hearts; finally attract them to join the team through the allotment system. Improve their sense of belonging and ownership of the team, and solve the problem of lack of professional talents from the root.

In response to the management problems of makers, many business schools and service groups in the domestic market have also launched corresponding management training activities and forums. During the interview, many entrepreneurs who had never had entrepreneurial experience expressed their willingness to learn from the successful maker team to the CEConlines. "We are happy to participate in the maker workshops and forums of CEConlines to help solve management and operation problems. Communication with an experienced maker team is exactly what our team needs now." Brand of Xiaoshuai Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. Manager Ms. Gu told reporters.

Although the road to entrepreneurship is difficult, more and more makers show a positive attitude that the future is still bright.