What is theCTE.net?
This website is an extension of The CTE Group’s website where all of our blogs and some of the white papers we have written for clients are kept. As for the title, The CTE, I have held many positions in the past as a Chief Technology Evangelist, so I decided to start a company of the same name, The CTE Group.
Fortunately more and more companies and organizations are becoming familiar with the role of the tech evangelist. Probably the most well-known Technology Evangelist is Guy Kawasaki, he was Apple’s first, and I dare say the industry’s first, technology evangelist.
Me, in my own journey, I have been refining the job description of the “Chief Technology Evangelist” and what its role responsibilities should be. It has evolved, and as I mentioned, I’m happy to see more companies embrace this type of role.
The Chief Technology Evangelist serves and reaches multiple constituents. In no particular order, below is my shortlist of constituents.
- Clients
- Partners (resellers)
- Industry Pundits, Influencers, and Bloggers
- Industry Analysts and Media
- Engineering/Development
- Product Management/Marketing
- Sales/Pre-Sales
- Executive Team
You can see the role can reach quite a broad audience, and by design, it is organized as such. The role of the evangelist, if you simply take it from the dictionary is to spread the word with zeal or an enthusiastic advocate. In fact, this is a very large part of the role, but just as important as enthusiastically advocating on behalf of your clients, is listening. A good technology evangelist will not only help spread the word but will listen to those he/she is spreading the word to.
Without client feedback, products are developed in a vacuum. Without understanding what drives the business of your partners (resellers) you may never have a channel program that removes the barriers to selling your solution. Without the Industry pundits, influencers, analysts, and media writing about your organization, product, or solution, you may never get the reach you fully intend and deserve. This is the essence of The CTE Group.
The Art of Listening
One of the things I detest is poor customer communication. Customer success, communication, service is not about “telling” but listening. If you ever tried to cancel a service due to quality issues, you know exactly what I’m referring to. I found this to be true when talking with my cell phone company about the service I was prepared to cancel. Never once did they ask me why I wanted to cancel. All I received was an option to extend it for 90 days, free of charge, to cover any problems I may have faced previously in hopes that this would solve the issue. In marketing, your messages are only as good as your ability to listen to your customers whose feedback helps you craft this message.
So the role of the evangelist is much more than just a mouthpiece, or it should be, it is the conduit to help deliver a better product development process, more strategic messaging, and to let everyone know your solution exists and that you are a company that listens to its customers!