The 5 Customer Types

Innovators: Technology Enthusiasts Innovators are the first people to adopt new technology, and they appreciate technology for technology's sake. They want to know what your technology does, without any fancy marketing tricks. They also want to have access to the technology folks on your team if they run into a problem, and they want everything to be cheap.

Early Adopters: The Visionaries The next stage are the Early Adopters, and these are the people who have the ability to match a new technology with a strategic opportunity, and the ability to get their organization bought into their vision. They are not on the lookout for improvements in technology, but a breakthrough that can give them the outsized returns they are looking for. They want to hit a homerun, and for that they are willing to put up with the bugs and glitches that come with an early stage technology company. They typically want to stay very close to the development of your product, and are in a hurry to get things done. Both of which can cause problems for a new company trying to find their way in the market.

Early Majority: The Pragmatists This segment is the bulk of the market for any technology product, which is why they are so important. They are more risk averse than the Early Adopters, and don't want to disrupt their organization with a risky technology buying decision. Instead, they are looking for an improvement to their existing operations. They care about the reputation of the company they are dealing with, the quality of the product, and the reliability of your service. In the absence of clear differentiation in the market, they will look for the lowest price. In contrast to the Early Adopters, they are not willing to put up with bugs in your technology.

Late Majority This group share most of the concerns of the Early Majority, with one additional problem - they are not comfortable with new technology. And so they typically wait until a technology has become the established standard and also tend to buy from big, established companies.

Laggards Laggards typically don't want anything to do with new technology, and for that reason are viewed as not worth pursuing. However, you should be aware of these types of people because if they exist at your prospects company, they might actively try and block the rest of the company from purchasing.