Sell Agile to Customers

People often ask me how to sell an agile way of working to their customers. To the customers who are used to the traditional way of working, customers who are used to requirements and fix scope, fix time, and fix budget, and customers who are used to big upfront analysis.

Don’t expect any magic. Selling is simple. All you need to do is to show the value. Show them what it is in for them. Because if they don’t understand what kind of value they are getting with this new way of working, all they have is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of change. Always start with why. No change will happen unless you create a sense of urgency.

The value they get will differ depending on the situation and their experience, so my best selling pitch always starts with questions. What would you say about your current experience? What are the typical pains? What is going well? What is important for you? I try to be open to new perspectives and curious about their situation. Then based on what they say I try to offer a new way of working. “We do *something differently* so that *this* and *this* will not happen.” The closer you get to their language, the better. Typically, you need to address lack of transparency, misunderstanding of the customer needs, not keeping the budget, and/or quality issues. They also often ask for a reference, so be ready to give one.

The most important is that you can only sell things you truly believe in. It’s good to already have some experience not only for a reference but also for your self-confidence. It’s always visible from your body language if you don’t believe in it. Plus, it’s hard to answer their curious questions about the details of your work if you never experienced it.