Selling networks the Mad Men way

The Mad Men of advertising had a knack for selling ideas, lifestyles, and products with flair and persuasion. But what if they turned their talents to selling networks? How might they approach the task of convincing businesses to invest in robust networking solutions?

Sex Sells

There is an old adage from the birth of modern advertising that "sex sells". While it's not always taken literally these days, the principle remains that appealing to powerful positive emotions can be a strong motivator. It's about creating an aspirational image that people want to be part of and that's really difficult to do with something as utilitarian as a network.

One of my stock phrases is "nobody cares about the network when it's working, but everyone cares when it's not". My goal throughout my career has been to make networks so reliable and easy to use that they become invisible, just like electricity. But how do you sell something that people don't notice when it's working? Application engineering teams are closer to the customer and always get the spotlight, there is a direct line of sight between their work and the customer experience; it's no wonder that most senior leadership in enterprise IT come from an application background rather than infrastructure.

Pivoting the network infrastructure from a cost to an asset or an enabler is a challenge; the mistake we make is to focus on the technology rather than the outcomes, to focus on the bandwidth and the latency which are just technical metrics. Nobody ever found a set of measurements sexy unless they could see how they translated into something they could get excited about. The network can't be sold on its own merits because it's a means to an end and not the end in itself.

Fear also Sells

Fear is another potent emotion that can drive decision-making. In the context of networks, highlighting the risks of inadequate security, data breaches, and downtime can create a sense of urgency which leads to action. It's about painting a vivid picture of the potential consequences of neglecting network infrastructure and then positioning your solution as the safeguard against those threats. This approach can be particularly effective in industries where data security is paramount, such as finance and healthcare, and where measurable financial penalties exist for non-compliance.

I once had a quote for a full disk laptop encryption solution sat on my desk for weeks. It was a small spend but it was considered low priority, even though I was at a financial services company. One morning the head of compliance gestured for me to come into his office as I walked past. He showed me a newspaper with a headline about a million pound fine for Nationwide Building Society for failing to encrypt laptops. I returned to my desk and sat there until the IT director came over; I pulled the quote from my desk drawer, he leaned over and signed it and then wordlessly walked back to his own office.

Selling through fear can be a double-edged sword, though. It's important to strike a balance between highlighting risks and offering solutions without overwhelming stakeholders with negativity. There comes a point where the noise of problems can become counterproductive and lead to a perception that the network is inherently risky or unreliable, or that the team managing it is not competent. The goal is to instill a sense of urgency and importance without creating a culture of fear or mistrust.

Where is the balance?

The balance between aspiration, or the 'sexy network', and fear is a delicate one. It's about crafting a narrative that resonates directly with the individuals making the decisions. For some, the allure of cutting-edge technology and the promise of enhanced performance may be the driving force. For others, the fear of potential risks and vulnerabilities may be the catalyst for action. Understanding the motivations and concerns of your audience is key to tailoring your message effectively. Ultimately, the most successful strategies will be those that can seamlessly integrate both elements, creating a compelling case for investment. You can talk about innovation taxes, technical debt and the cost of doing nothing, but you also need to paint the picture of what the future could look like with a modern, agile, and secure network infrastructure. It's about showing how the network can be a strategic asset that drives business growth and innovation, rather than just a necessary evil that needs to be managed.

But surely we can still be sexy?

Making the network sexy, so you don't have to rely so much on fear, is a challenge but it's not impossible. I use the word 'friction' a lot to describe the barriers that slow down the pace of change in an organisation. Networks are often seen as a source of friction, slowing down application delivery and innovation. This was the same for hosting teams until cloud adoption demonstrated that you can have servers and storage that is fast, flexible, and easy to deploy. The same principles can be applied to networks, but it requires a shift in mindset and approach with greater transparency through observability, and greater pace through automation.

The network can be sexy if it enables rapid innovation and delivers a seamless user experience. The right person with the right device gets the right access to the right application at the right time, every time. This is a powerful vision that can be sold to business leaders as a competitive advantage. Let's stop thinking about the network as an entity in itself. We don't think of the foundations of a building as a separate thing, they are part of the whole. Connectivity is the foundation of the digital business, it's time we started selling it that way. Every application interaction requires connectivity, so let's talk about that connectivity instead of routers and switches and wifi. Let's own the user experience from end to end and talk about that instead of the strands of glass and copper that make it possible. When we want to transform the network we need to talk about what we're transforming it into, a seamless connectivity experience that ensures that everyone can work effectively and securely from anywhere, at any time. That is a sexy network.

The Mad Men of advertising knew that the best campaigns weren't about the product itself, but about the lifestyle, the feeling, the transformation it enabled. As network professionals, we need to become the Mad Men of connectivity. Not selling networks, but selling the future of work. Not marketing infrastructure, but marketing possibility. When we master this art of persuasion, combining aspiration with urgency, vision with pragmatism, we transform the conversation from cost justification to investment in a better experience. That's when business connectivity finally gets to be sexy.