There will always come a time when a little help is needed to achieve a certain goal. As an IT director, you probably look for the best way to guarantee a buy-in from leadership when it comes time to upgrade technology. Collaborative technology consulting lets you get more done, stress less and empower your team. There’s no harm in turning to a team of experts to gain the clarity you need to go farther, faster.

Let’s take a detailed look into four key tactics that make selling tech to your leadership team a little easier.

4 Key Tactics to Make Selling Tech Easier

1. Adapt Your Communication Style to Your Audience

• What’s the right balance of business vs. technical language?
• What’s the right level of detail?

2. Come Prepared With Your Three W’s

What you are recommending, why you are recommending it and what you need from leadership are three key ingredients to bring to the table:

• What: Define the tech you are recommending, including cost and timeline.
• Why: Outline the benefits to the business for buying the tech. (You can also include the backstory for why this is priority.)
• What you need: Prepare the ask. (Do you need budget approval? Leadership’s time or support? Something else?)

3. Apply Your Focus on the Benefits

Put the focus on the business benefits behind your recommendation. Will the recommended technology result in the following:

• Increased sales?
• Lowered costs?
• Reduced risk?
• Improved workforce efficiency?
• Increased capacity and reduced overhead?
• A better product, a service differentiation or a competitive advantage?
• Meeting compliance standards to reduce risk (regulatory, contractual, etc.)?

4. Align With Strategic Priorities

When possible, show how your tech recommendation aligns with the strategic priorities of the organization:

• Many organizations define some high-level strategic priorities that guide planning and decision making. When possible, show how the recommendation you are making supports those priorities.

Consulting With the Experts Helps You Sell It

You’ve got a solid pitch and you’re ready to present to leadership. You know how to resonate with your audience and really give them that wow factor. You know what you’re recommending , why you’re recommending it and the tech aligns with the strategic priorities of the organization. There’s no way leadership is going to turn down your request to purchase new tech. So then, why did they do exactly that?

Technology consulting can help you prepare for pushback and answer the tough questions from your leadership team. Below is a list of sample questions your IT consultant can help prepare you to answer:

• What alternatives were considered and why weren’t they chosen?
• How confident are you with these costs and timeline?
• How are you calculating the business benefits you laid out?
• What’s the worst that could happen if we do nothing?

Business leaders can often feel caught in a whirlwind of technology. Chasing after change is frustrating and can negatively affect the growth and profitability of any organization. No matter how good your sales pitch, a smart business leader will look to protect their bottom line. It’s up to you to prove how new or upgraded technology will ultimately result in a return on their investment with limited downtime.

Technology consulting exists to help you feel confident knowing you’re being guided by an experienced partner. The best IT consultants rely on  a proven process to help you align, kick off, deliver, close out and assure leadership they are making the right buying decision for their business.

Types of Technology Your Leadership Needs

The type of technology needed to successfully run a business varies by organization, but there are a few common priorities often seen by business technology consultants:

• Cyber security improvements
• Transitioning systems to the cloud
• Adding or expanding business intelligence capabilities
• Modernizing internal collaboration tools and capabilities (especially with a growing work-from-home workforce)
• Upgrading legacy ERP systems (although this is often driven by business leaders, not IT)

Technology Consulting: Suited to Serve Your Needs

At Afidence we provide unbiased, real-time business and technology solutions that are flexible and cost-effective. Our consultants will always strive to be transparent and honest with you, will communicate openly about engagement status and expectations, and will work to achieve the solutions you want on time and on budget.If you’re at a loss without a clear path forward on how to sell tech to your leadership team, call the experts at Afidence, your trusted advisor on all things technology.