The two audiences problem
Instrumentation companies usually sell to two audiences at once: the scientist who will run the instrument and the manager who will approve buying it. They ask different questions, apply different tests and are persuaded by different evidence. One message aimed at both tends to satisfy neither.
Two people, one purchase
The scientist wants to know what the instrument measures, how, and where the method falls over. They will read a method section. They will notice an unqualified number and quietly discount everything after it.
The manager wants to know what changes if this is bought: throughput, headcount, risk, the cost over five years including consumables and service. They will not read the method section. They will ask the scientist whether it holds up.
Both have veto power and neither can complete the purchase alone.
How the failure shows up
Most companies resolve this by averaging. The resulting page is technically thin enough that the scientist stops trusting it, and abstract enough that the manager cannot find a number to justify anything with. It reads as marketing, which for this audience is a category rather than a compliment.
The other failure is picking one audience and forgetting the other exists. Deeply technical companies write for the scientist and then cannot explain why anyone should sign. Commercially-led companies write for the manager and get eliminated during technical evaluation.
One position, two arguments
The position — the single claim about what you do better and for whom — is shared. What changes is the argument used to support it.
For the scientist: the method, the data, the limits, the comparison against the technique they currently use. Say what your instrument cannot resolve. It costs you nothing with this reader and buys a great deal.
For the manager: what changes operationally, what it costs in total, what the risk of switching is and how it is mitigated. Time to result, not resolution.
Structurally that means a page or a document per audience, not a paragraph per audience on one page. And it means the sales team knowing which conversation they are in — which is what a stakeholder question matrix is for.
The test
Give your material to a friendly scientist and a friendly operations manager separately. Ask each what the company claims. If the answers differ in substance rather than in emphasis, you have two positions and a problem.
Written by Matthew McGann, President and Owner of Particle Analytx. More about the practice.
Questions on this piece
Should we write separate websites for each audience?
No — separate pages within one site, hanging from a single position. Two positions is a different company.
Which audience comes first?
The scientist, usually. They build the shortlist. The manager decides between what is on it.
What about procurement?
Procurement rarely selects, but it can delay. Give it what it needs early: total cost, service terms, lead times.
Recognise the problem?
If this describes where you are, thirty minutes on a call will get further than another article.