Techno-Ready Marketing: How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology [Paperback]

A. Parasuraman (Author), Charles L. Colby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2007

Conventional techniques for marketing technology products fail primarily because marketers do not truly understand their customers. Do you know what customers really think about your technology? Now, drawing on their award-winning research and case studies ranging from America Online to the Discovery Channel, marketing experts A. Parasuraman and Charles L. Colby demonstrate how the adoption of technology is influenced by unique beliefs that do not apply to conventional products and services.

In the context of a general set of powerful techno-marketing strategies, Parasuraman and Colby introduce "Technology Readiness" (TR), a groundbreaking concept that enables you to measure and assess a customer's predisposition to adopt new technologies. Employing their TR construct -- a psychological amalgam of fears, hopes, desires, and frustrations about technology -- the authors identify five types of technology customers: the highly optimistic and innovative "Explorers," the innovative yet cautious "Pioneers," the uncertain "Skeptics" who need the benefits of technology proved, the insecure "Paranoids," and the resistant "Laggards." Using this typology, you can customize your technology strategies by combining insights from your context-specific assessments with general marketing strategies presented in the book. Essential reading in technology companies will be the chapter devoted to Parasuraman's Pyramid Model, which explains the critical role technology plays in a marketing organization as a link between employees, the organization, and the customer. Finally, the authors have included a self-administered quiz so you can score your own Technology Readiness and a chapter on the "Techno-Ready Marketing Audit" to provide a framework for taking immediate action based on the precepts in this book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Rapid advances in current technologies and the accelerating emergence of new ones are flooding the marketplace with innovative products and services," write A. Parasuraman and Charles L. Colby at the start of Techno-Ready Marketing. But despite this onslaught and the importance that companies have placed upon it, the authors continue, the marketing of related products and services "is by and large being guided by traditional principles that may not be as effective for high-tech companies as they are for their low-tech counterparts." After four years of research into ways this might be better accomplished, the two developed the concept of Technology Readiness to measure how customers will react to such innovations and provide insight that corporations can use to practice the "techno-ready marketing" necessary to capture the public's attention. Parasuraman, the University of Miami's James W. McLamore Professor of Marketing, and Colby, president of a market research and consulting firm that specializes in technology, present a scholarly discussion of the process followed by a section on its practical use, filled with historical and contemporary case studies. They also include a self-administering Marketing Audit to help readers assess their current corporate status and adjust strategies accordingly. --Howard Rothman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Parasuraman is a University of Miami marketing professor who just completed a three-year stint as editor of the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Colby heads Rockbridge Associates, a market research and consulting firm specializing in technology issues. Relying on three years of research projects and case studies, they answer the question of why and how customers--and employees--adopt new technologies. They find that the adoption of technology is a distinct process, that technological innovations require different marketing strategies, that customer satisfaction becomes more of a challenge with technology-based products and services, and that technology markets often are governed by the "winner-takes-all" principle. The authors have developed a "technology readiness index" to measure people's "propensity to embrace and use new technologies," and they identify five types of technology customers. They then suggest ways to acquire and satisfy technology customers and show how organizations can conduct a "techno-ready marketing audit." The tools and insights found in this book can benefit any organization struggling with changes wrought by technology. David Rouse
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (September 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416576630
• ISBN-13: 978-1416576631
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,949,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Works of Its Kind, March 1, 2002

By 

Kris Timmerman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Techno-Ready Marketing : How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology (Hardcover)

Every once in a while a book comes along that not only sets a new standard of excellence in its field, it actually adds a new dimension to the field itself. The outcome of years of technical research and of knowledge derived from actual hands-on ventures, "Techno-Ready Marketing" sets the pace for the marketing of technical products in the 21st century and beyond.

Colby and Parasuraman intrigue the reader with the various levels of technologically ready personalities ranging from the ever-curious "Pioneer" to the overly cautious "Laggard". The authors then go on to show how, once a target market is identified, guidelines can be established and followed to make the release of new technologies successful.

"Techno-Ready Marketing" will be remembered for generations to come as the book that opened the door to the dynamic concept of Technology Readiness. Future generations will read this book in awe of the foresight and keen perception of the authors. There is little doubt that "Techno-Read Marketing" will retain its position as one of the foremost works of its kind.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Chief Operating Officer, August 2, 2001

By 

Angel J. Garcia III (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Techno-Ready Marketing : How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology (Hardcover)

Techno-Ready Marketing provides the kind of common sense approach necessary for business managers to be prepared to make the tough decisions about their technology needs. I found TRM's method of analysis to be both an understanding and insightful recipe for success. Too often technical solutions are presented without knowing all there is to know about the customer's ability to accept a technology solution. TRM's approach goes a long way toward gaining the customers understanding, acceptance, and satisfaction.

As one of the principal owners and business developers in the company, I am always looking for new ways to gage the customer's readiness to receive our solutions. Along with the many variables involved in the sales and marketing cycle, not the least of which is the acute need to quickly determine a prospects dominate buying motive, today's fast pace and evolving technological world makes assessing the technology readiness of a prospect more challenging than ever. This book has armed me with the means to make those assessments both quickly and accurately. That's the kind of edge every technology-marketing professional can use. I look forward to the 2nd edition.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for any business with an online presence, July 25, 2001

By 

"ashishvarsani" (Miami, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Techno-Ready Marketing : How and Why Your Customers Adopt Technology (Hardcover)

Excellent insight into the critical issues around understanding customers and how to create and market products and services that will actually sell. The book goes through a very thorough model on how to break down customer's technology readiness and how to go about using the results to develop and enhance a company's services.