The French, they gave us silly accents, glorious vistas and the spirit of revolutions. The way the French cracked on in 1789 taught us that if you’re sick of something and believe you have a better idea, you have to shake things up to dump the status quo. Unfortunately in B2B marketing, you can’t willy-nilly cut the heads off people who block your progress, not matter how much you feel the world would be a better a place. With our current legal system, you have be a bit more strategic to get your revolution going.

Technology for instance can enable us to hold our own revolutions to change the world and take leaps into new markets begging to be exploited. Sometimes markets are stuck in ways that just don’t work, at times stupidly so. That’s when inventions sprout forth, new technology powers new ways, which requires new thinking and in turn can generate some really exciting changes.

And then someone has to market it and here the revolution can get shaky, because revolutions in technology and innovation often require a vast change in people’s thinking, conceptualisation and behaviour, along with a dose of bravery for being the first to try something new.

Imagine if buying behaviour of corporations and Government was applied to that nifty revolution – fire. We would all still be eating raw meat and freezing our bums off. In fact let’s quickly run a ruler over that radical idea of “fire,” a genuine revolution of technology in the light of modern day procurement procedures.

1.     Risk-management policy, never be first to use – Well that would mean every other cave will be enjoying pork chops, without worrying about getting worms

2.     Need to get three competing offers, open tender policy – Does that mean you have to go out, teach two others how to make fire, hand over IP and then pray that you don’t get under cut?

3.     Non-compliant tender – No kidding! It’s non-compliant, because no one has ever done fire before! Perhaps if the underdeveloped sapiens who did tenders, did so with an understanding about what they needed to achieve?

Any of this sounds familiar? I really do admire the brave and brilliant minds that develop new technology. And what a challenge to market it!