Skip to main content

Don't Sell Saddles

Don’t Sell Saddles

This post is based on a true incident that happened at Tiny Speck, the makers of Slack, on July 31st, 2013. 

Related image

We have always been told - Build Something that People Want. Most companies build something which is genuinely useful - any user would be better off than they were before. That means they have something people want. What is missing is this - almost none of the people have any idea that they want this new product. How could they ? They’ve never heard of it. At best, only a exceedingly small number would have imagined such a product on their own. These people just know they want something different. They are definitely not specifically looking for the product this company has developed. But then no-one was looking for a WhatsApp.

So, just as much as our job is to build something genuinely useful, makes people’s working lives simpler, more pleasant and more productive, our job is also to understand what people think they want and then translate that value into their terms of understanding.

Even "good marketing”, with the best slogans, ads, landing pages, PR campaigns, etc., will fail miserably, if not supported by the experience (read that as insight) people have when they visit the website, or sign up, or when they first begin using the product and again when they start using it day in, day out.


Therefore, "Understanding what people think they want and then translating that value into their terms” is something we all need to work upon.

Marketing from Both Ends
Product-Market Fit is something that most people in Marketing know - it is the degree to which a product could be successful, given sufficient promotion, appropriate pricing, adequate customer support and so on. However, before you find that fit, all the pushing in the world will not get you anywhere.

Product-Market Fit is the “only thing that matters” for startups. It is a way of thinking about the life of the startup. It has two distinct phases : Before Product-Market Fit and After Product-Market Fit. Only when the product fits the market, the company is able to get traction, to build up sales speed, to spend to promote a product that will actually sell.

Things you need to do before are very different from the things you need to do after.


Most find it easy to get to the middle of the first phase. What is indeed bugging is the fact that it is very, very hard to tell how far they have to go to cross over into the promised land (the last 10%, which requires 90% of the effort).  This requires Marketing from Both Ends :
  • Doing a better and better job of providing what people want (whether they know it or not)
  • Communicating the above, more and more effectively (so that they know they want it)
At best, it is a chicken or egg dilemma - the product itself and the way people use it should suggest new ways of articulating the value . So, the refinements to how we communicate the value should lead to principles which clarify decision-making around product features and design.

The step forward is simple - Sell the Innovation, not the Product.


Let us think and debate how this can be done. I will share my ideas into your contribution by way of comments and feedback.

 I promise you will have a meaning debate and dialogue, not to mention real learning.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Compelling Value Proposition

Value is defined as the worth of something for which something else can be exchanged.  This exchange is by free will. This exchange, in marketing, is with the money that the customer is willing to pay. Many marketing professionals confuse the value proposition, with the value statements that they make from from time to time. One of them - the (dreaded) elevator pitch. 😠 Dreaded elevator pitch makes the other guy in the elevator, press the "emergency" button to get off the next floor, even of he was not intending to get off there. 😠 😠  Even some experienced marketing professionals believe that a value proposition is merely a single statement or a sentence. It is not so. It a comprehensive way to define value, especially from the point of the customer. Thus, an elevator pitch, a Unique Selling Proposition(USP), a Unique Value Proposition (UVP), a Minimum Value Proposition (MVP) are just parts of the value proposition. You can call them the subsets of ...
5 comments
Read more

Being a Responsive Manager

These days, I hear a lot of people talking about making responsive websites. I started wondering whether there was some way we could also have responsive managers !! Do they teach this in the MBA Colleges ? Or even in the Corporate World ? What would being responsive mean ? Is there a way a manager can learn to become responsive ? Many such questions !! I thought I would share my thoughts here. U nresponsive people drive me crazy - sending an eMail to someone and then waiting days to hear anything back, is at the top of my list. I have to admit that this happens to me also. Yet, I replay withing 4 - 5 days, even in such situations. What is horribly sickening is not hearing anything at all. A simple question I ask, in job interviews, is “Do you consider yourself a responsive person ?” For me, this is a must-have-attribute . Naturally, everyone says, “yes.” But the way they answer, the speed and the conviction, is obviously the answer to my question. This makes realize...
5 comments
Read more

Success lies Outside the Comfort Zone

There is a true and fascinating story about the Miller Brewing Company, that surely has inspiration and a strong management lesson. Miller Brewing Company had been brewing quality beer for nearly 60 years. All of a sudden p rohibition was declared. It was a devastating thing for any company, especially one which had worked hard to build a brand and a reputation. The prohibition killed almost all the beer producers during the next decade or so. Almost all the brewers had no choice but to close down. Hundreds of brewers simply closed down and accepted their circumstances. After all, they had no choice with the prohibition in place. But Not Miller  Brewing Company . They did not resort, unlike most brewers, to complaining and whining about how unfair life was for them. Instead of complaining about unfairness of life, they decided to look for new ways to expand. New ways that they had never before explored or had any experience of. They started producing malt...
1 comment
Read more