I am sitting in a meeting room with my friend Bob Cannon.  The quiet of the room is interrupted by the load quacking of a duck.  Since the library bumps up against a park with a stream, my first thought was, “what window is open?”

Looking across the table I watch Bob smack his chest and say, “Hello, this is Bob.”

I thought, “what the heck is he doing?”  I sat amazed as he acted as if he were on the phone with someone, sitting there, grinning at me.  Next I thought, “hey, my friend is getting old, just humor him.”

“Oh no, I can call you back.  No problem.  Talk to you later,” and he smacks his chest.

“What was that,” I ask, wondering where the closest assisted living center is.

The explanation rolls out.

Bob recently got some hearing aids (too much Rock music some years back for sure) that are Bluetooth enabled.  He also has a small box, about the size of a book of matches, that hangs around his neck that he wears under his shirt . . . which connects with the hearing aids.  His phone vibrates and he touches the button on this chest device that acts as both a sound amplifier and a switch.  This turns on his phone’s Bluetooth and connects it to the Bluetooth that is built in into his hearing aids (which ear devices also have a high tech microphone that pick up his speech).

Now is this awesome or what?   He has a switch on his chest which connects his hearing aids (now stereo headphones as well which can connect to the iPod that is built into his phone) to his phone.  He never has to pick up his phone.  He never has to worry about hearing the conversation.

Wow.

If you are selling and marketing to people who cannot buy, then you are, to use the words of John Wayne, “burning daylight.”

All the technology, websites, social networking will not have much impact if the decision maker doesn’t use them.  You might persuade an influencer, but the person who can write a check is not getting your message.

Since sales and marketing is about controlling the message to those who can make a decision, then you want to focus on technology that is adopted by those who have budget to spend and will spend it.

What kind of technology?

Consider Bionic Bob.

When the laser beam was discovered in the 1960’s one expert said, “this is the answer to questions that have not even been asked yet.”

Here is technology for marketing that is exciting.

But if you can get technology that decision makers  will use (like Bionic Bob’s)  . . . look out!