Naturally Speaking: Unnaturally Stupid Marketing
August 19, 2008
Dragon's Naturally Speaking is the best voice-recognition dictation program out there. It is marketed as poorly as any program I know. Geniuses program it, but their genius is not matched by the sales division.
Recently, Version 10 was released. A friend of mine got an email telling him of this. He was offered an opportunity to buy the upgrade for the Preferred version for $100, rather than $200 new.
I want to buy it. I searched Google for the company's site: Nuance. When I got to Google's entry port, the site still listed Version 9.
I tried to order the upgrade. I could not find the offer. I used the online search engine: "Upgrade." No such link.
Finally, I found the offer. It was hidden here.
http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/preferred.asp
Price: $149.
My buddy got it for $100.
So, these people never sent me an email regarding the upgrade. That was an immediate $100. "Not interested."
They collect the email of every registered buyer, but they don't bother to send an upgrade offer to everyone. Yet this is the golden treasure: instant money from a single email blast.
The sales department has adopted discriminatory pricing against existing owners who did not receive the email offer. This really makes users mad when they find out.
The president of the company is obviously not minding the store. He does not have a reliable minion to do it for him.
When businesses get large, they get stodgy and blind. They develop new products, but they do not have a marketing plan in place to generate revenue.
This is like a gutter with $100 bills floating down it. The president of Nuance is supposed to provide incentives and training for subordinates. "Get a scooper. Reach down. Scoop up those bills."
This sort of thing never ceases to amaze me. The president is always caught flat-footed. "How did this happen?"
The minions shield him from bad news, thereby protecting their backsides. It is easier to shield the president from bad news than it is to keep from making mistakes. Nobody gets fired in either case. "It's easier to say you're sorry after the fact than to get it right the first time."
But eventually the story hits the Web. The president finds out. But it's a nice day for golfing. The shareholders will never know.
Then a recession hits, and fat and sassy companies get the religion of efficiency. I think there will be a revival meeting at Nuance next year. The company needed it this year.