Written by Jasmine Seliga, Founder & CEO of Affixify
Last Friday, I had a call with a sales rep who was hoping to upsell me on a platform we already use here at Affixify. She did an excellent job at engaging us to be sure we knew what the platform could do beyond what we were currently paying for. I was shown a flow chart on a landing page of all that the application could achieve for us. As a startup founder, on a bootstrapped budget, in theory it sounded really great. Yet I couldn’t help but ask- are you showing me a great piece of marketing created by a highly funded team? Or, can your solution truly do what this landing page says it can do? We have a host of inbound leads here at Affixify on any given week, and managing those takes a full-time person (literally. Thank you Stephanie!). So to imagine a software that could do this for us sounded great, but to be honest, left me skeptical. I needed more proof. I needed to see it in real time. I needed validation.
Now- I’m not alone in this, because I’ve been in software sales long enough to know that this is an all-too-common feeling. I myself have been in conversations during my tenure as a sales professional that went something like “I know we can probably do that, but we’d need to develop it for you.” Or, “Can I go back to our development team and find out if we can make that happen?”
As I’m sitting somewhat in the middle seat (so to speak) these days, between hotelier and software provider, I hear a lot of the frustration for hotels behind these conversations. Trust is lacking, because development is frankly hard to accomplish on a set timeframe, even when a customer is paying for it. Sure, if you’re a huge brand that will help push a tech company forward tremendously- this probably isn’t for you. I’m talking about the independent, boutique hoteliers looking for a great platform and having a hard time figuring out who to choose. They don't want the promise of potential features that aren’t readily available today. They want - and need- them available now. And that is precisely why feature validation exists.
When we conceptualized Affixify, one of the very first things we did was vet out this concept in depth. Validation at its heart is helping buyer and seller jump off on the right foot, with trust established from the get-go. We aim to ensure a technology provider’s features are real, and not on a roadmap, before they are allowed into our algorithm to be matched. From a differentiation perspective- this also sets us far apart from others in the realm of tech matchmaking. We don’t put the ownership of trying to update features on our shoulders- this is a disservice to the software provider, to the hotelier and honestly, to us. There is no way we - or anyone for that matter- can keep up with what multiple vendors have going on at any given time. Even the most seasoned consultants in this space have told us it’s a near impossible feat. So, we depend on our vendor partners to update us on their feature additions- and trust us, they do. Our job? To follow-up with validation.
Some have said “validation is not scalable”. Our goal is not to do things that scale, it’s to do things right. We have had enough industry conversations to know this process is not only appreciated, it’s vital. As one hotelier put it to me recently “keep the validation process going- it really helps to hold everyone accountable.”
So why validate? It puts trust back into the process…When buyer and seller are matched, there’s confidence that the feature fit provided by Affixify is on features that are real. Buyer and seller are able to get started on the right foot knowing that there’s already built-in trust provided by our team.
Buying hospitality software is already complex. Our vision at Affixify is to ease the burden, build back trust and offer a better way for everyone to engage in tech discussions moving forward. So let’s keep validating, shall we?
About Affixify
Affixify is a technology due diligence platform designed specifically for hoteliers. Our platform helps hotel professionals quickly and efficiently compare a wide range of technology vendors to find the best solutions for their unique needs. With an unbiased approach and a comprehensive database of hotel technology platforms, Affixify ensures that hoteliers can make informed decisions and select the right technology to drive their business forward. We understand that no single solution fits all, and we’re here to help you find the perfect tech fit for your hotel. To learn more, get in touch with us at www.getaffixify.com
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