Too many high-tech hardware vendors leave piles of cash on the table by ignoring their competitors' end-of-life (EOL) announcements. When a hardware device has reached EOL status -- often 4-6 years after purchase -- that's when many enterprises take a look at alternative solutions on the market before trading in their old device for the latest and greatest version.

Wise high-tech product marketing professionals take advantage of these "compelling events" by constructing competitive trade-in promotions, where the customer sends them their old box(es) and receive a healthy (20-30%) discount in exchange. (The vendor then typically recycles the old boxes on behalf of the customer.) Such trade-in promotions should be well-documented and shared with the sales team and (potentially) advertised on the company's website for competitor customers begin to research alternative solutions.

Virtually all hardware companies post EOL announcements on their public-facing websites. I recommend you place a monthly reminder in your calendar to monitor your competitors' websites for both EOL and preceding end-of-sale (EOS) announcements. Your sales force will thank you and so will your boss.

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