Settling Just Inside The Frontier
The Vanguard. The Cutting Edge. The Crest of the Wave.
It has ever been an attractive spot.
From homo sapiens first leaving East Africa, later abandoning in droves the Old World for the New, or venturing into Space, physical migration for betterment continues with today's career moves.
No matter your age, who wouldn't want the glamour, the kudos, the purpose, of working in a Frontier Technology?
A recent study by The Economist magazine determined these to presently be; the metaverse, autonomous vehicles, health care, space, robotics, fintech, crypto and quantum computing. (Interestingly, they left out AI, declaring it now "ubiquitous".)
This perked my sales antennae.
Here's three ways.
If you are selling any of these yourself. By definition Marketeers have that these are tech at the 'early adopter' phase. Have you worked out how to find such types of buyer? So that you don't waste time on (yet) on tomorrow's 'majority'.
If you are selling to enterprises in any of these fields. They often might lean towards innovation when offered to them as they likely appreciate kindred spirits. Or they may wish to prefer to be doing their own innovating on the back of proven, robust infrastructure. Find out which driver best suits. They may gravitate towards the latest expansive ideas for extra edge in a crowded development arena. Or they may simply prize the standard pick and shovel.
If you are selling to people seemingly not involved. Then what a conversation to have. Is any competitor of yours asking them, 'how are you affected by any of those frontier technologies?' Even if they state, 'not in the slightest', there's insight to be gleaned from what horizon is felt to be nearing them at pace. Which frontiers may be looming closer into view. Whether they are frontier-pushing, settler-folk, or content to make good where they are.
Pertinently, it could help establish where they're spending money. And how priorities allocating budget are set.
In particular, there's a revealing discussion to be had around where they'd plot themselves on a frontiership scale.
Are they proudly pioneers, looking to the 'high-frontier', pushing the limits of where they're at? Or happy to work on the margins of one recently established, consolidating gains? Do they like to settle just inside any new boundary, watching others push or maintain it? Or does their version of 'progress' stem from a completely different angle on survival?
Such talks should provide you with both where they're headed and what kind of people (partners, suppliers) they'd like to help them get there.