My Simple (Not Easy) Process for Selling High-Tech Products

Nearly every client I work with today sells something technical. My past four clients are in cybersecurity, engineering, AI, and complex mortgage lending, respectively.

The content and copy I write for each client varies widely, but they all really need the same thing: To sell technical products and services.

Selling anything high-tech requires you to get very simple. Clear, simple writing is a sign of confidence. But it's also more than that. You're distilling your offer down to the narrowest need you solve. Can you name it succinctly?

I've always liked Mark Ritson's maxim, "The first rule of marketing is you are not the customer." This is triply true in technical marketing. Often my clients speak a different language than the people they're trying to reach.

This article is my attempt to distill the magic of writing for high-tech companies. I've done this now for over nine years. I don't mind giving away my process because it's a lot of work to execute. Most people won't put in the effort, anyway.

The pre-work: Listen to customers

At the beginning of every writing project, I begin by listening to customers. I want to use their language in the final message.

My favorite place to begin is customer reviews. Last week I combed through over seventy reviews for my client's product. I pasted my favorite words, sentences, analogies, and outcomes into a spreadsheet.

Then I listened to recorded sales calls while I read along using the transcript. I pulled my favorite moments and added them to the same sheet. The great thing about sales calls is you can zoom in on the moment of decision. You get to hear from a real customer as they raise concerns or point out their problems and fears.

On most copywriting engagements, I also interview a few customers. I want to understand how they use the product, what features they love and how they talk about them. I listen for clues about why they decided to buy.

When my clients don't have reviews, recorded sales calls, or customers available to interview, I find equivalent information on competitor sites and related product reviews. Sometimes I'll go to the comments sections of relevant news stories just to see the frustrations people voice.

I do all of this before ever writing a word for my clients. The pre-work gives me context. Now the real work of making sense of customer language and wrangling it into a cohesive offer begins.

The messy middle: Find your big idea

What are you trying to write?

We're not simply trying to describe your product. Yes, using simple, clear customer-first language will get you ahead of the competition. But I want my clients to go deeper.

Good messaging is about hooking your ideal customers with a big idea. So, I pore over the disparate reviews searching for the deeper underlying story I can tell.

One of my favorite headlines I've written was for a technical recruiter who helped small startups secure rare technical talent. Through poring over case studies, it became clear that startups have a unique fear: losing their best talent to FAANG companies that can always outbid them for talent.

Our big idea became a powerful, emotionally resonant headline: "Stop missing out on top talent."

I love that line.

It goes beyond describing a service. It captures the mood—it acknowledges the pain real founders and HR professionals experience as they build their teams. The words snap together because they're tied to a big idea. There's a story packed in those words.

Stick the landing: Wrangle your words into submission

You have your big idea. How do you make it punch?

There's no shortcut. I don't want to hear about your genius AI. If you want a message as big as your idea, then you need to stick the landing. You sit with your customer language for a long time—hours, maybe days—and throw every idea you have on paper.

Write as many headlines as you can. When you see an idea, chase it down and write thirty variations. Bleed the idea dry and then move on to the next one.

The work you do in private will reduce the work customers do later when they're deciding between you or your competitors. If your message is simple, clear, and tied to a good idea that resonates with your customers, then you're miles ahead of competitors. They don't stand a chance with their jargon and AI drivel.

This is the part most people miss in marketing: Nailing the message is 95% of the work. You can waste years fiddling with brand colors and content distribution strategies. It's not even 80/20.

If you get the story right—if your message is big and bold and clear, especially in a technical industry—then nearly any marketing strategy you follow afterward will leave your competitors in the dust.

The payoff

How many of your competitors write "Empower your team" or "Our {product} works smarter" at the top of their websites? This copy tells you nothing. It makes customers have to continue to work to figure out what you're selling—and why it's the right choice.

The chance to nail your message, and run circles around your competitors, is your opportunity for the taking.

You give yourself a demonstrable marketing edge by getting your foundational message straight. The best thing Geico ever did for their sales was distill their message down to: "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance."

How do you compete against such a clear, no-brain idea? I wouldn't have envied Geico's competitors in that era. How many hours do you think it took a copywriter to draft that simple line?

If it took them a whole year, it was worth it. There's no reason to be efficient here. Shortcuts can't take you to the same destination.

It takes hard work to distill something complex into a simple message that sticks. Why should it be easy to run circles around the competition?

This is the message I wish every technical founder or marketer would take seriously: Your message is a mirror for your customers. You clean the mirror by clarifying your message: Listen to customers, find the big idea, and then write it well.

The cleaner you make the glass, the easier you make it for customers to see themselves in your product.

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P.S. If this article resonates, maybe it's time to clarify your message. Let's talk. (15 minutes, totally free.) Here's my calendar.