5 Tips for Successfully Selling Emerging Technologies

Solution providers attending the week's XChange Tech Innovators conference in Miami reached deep into their bag of tricks to pull out their secrets for finding and successfully selling hot new technologies. Here are five of their gems.

1. Don't be afraid to fail. Diving headfirst into a new technology can bring tremendous rewards. With that comes big risk, and that's ok, solution providers said. "You can lose hundreds of thousands of dollars by making the wrong choices, but on the flipside, you can make the same [if you make the right ones]," said Neil Medwed, president of Preferred Technology Solutions, a Richardson, Texas-based solution provider.

2. Prepare to commit. The decision to take on a new, emerging technology should not be taken lightly, solution providers warned. "We spent a lot of money and a lot of time in training," said Babar Yasin, CEO of Arshco, a solution provider in Berkeley, Calif., that is finding success in new areas like the digital home market, managed services, VoIP and digital signage.

3. Listen to your clients. Solution providers said the best way to pick technology areas to branch out into is to stay close to home, capitalizing on areas customers have already expressed interest in or that are complementary to technology they are already deploying. "We try to touch on things that will mean something to our clients," said Terry Sharkey, president of National Tek Services, a solution provider in Mundelein, Ill.

Next: It's All About Focus

4. Pick a focus. Solution providers were also cautioned not to let their eyes get bigger than their stomachs when it comes to their appetite for emerging technologies. "The key is to not try to be everything to everybody and try to grasp everything out there. You can't do it all at once," Medwed said. "You can't be half-good with advanced technologies and be successful."

5. Get on a plane. One of the best ways to find hot technology is to go look for it, solution providers said. Attending conferences where new vendors are showing off their wares is a surefire method for uncovering potential opportunities. "I spend 120 thousand air miles a year with my ass in a seat on US Air," said Howard Lubert, managing partner and senior analyst at SafeHatch a Wayne, Pa.-based company that provides support services for venture capital firms looking for technology investments.

In addition to the digital home market and digital signage, attendees of the conference, sponsored by CMP Technology, the parent company of CMP Channel, shared several other areas where they are finding success.

"If you're not looking to provide managed software services for your customers now, you won't be around in five years," Lubert said.

Marlene Brill, president of Digitask Consultants, said her New York-based company took an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach to outsourcing, developing a new business area around helping customers tap software development talent overseas.

"A lot of our customers went abroad to try to get cheaper services, so now we partner with people abroad. Our customers got stuck in time zone changes and communications problems, and we're able to turn that around."