Sell software as a way of working, not a product. The best tools increase revenue, reduce risk, or lower costs without forcing users to change how they think. Target customers who already share your beliefs about work.
What makes for a good tool? I find the best tools are ones that are being sold into people to work in a particular way that helps them execute on that without requiring them to make a change in mental model, right? A mental model that's selling a way as opposed to selling a tool. And so it's going to be how does this integrate into their workflows as they want to do them today? How does this engage and create greater value? And decrease risk and ideally reduce costs all at the same time. When tools are accomplishing those 3 goals, increase revenue, decrease risk, decrease cost, and when it does not require a change in the way that they view the world, that is when I think you have a really good tool story. Often this is going to be in the context of people who already agree with you on certain things about how work should be done. Look for those commonalities to segment your market, and that is going to be the way that you are successful in selling a tool.
