Startup Marketing 101: You Are Not Selling a Product

In talking with a startup founder the other day it became clear that there was a problem. He had just lost a sale to a competitor. Not only was that extremely frustrating, he wasn’t sure why he had lost the sale. Losing deals sucks, but it can be a great way to learn so that you don’t make the same mistakes next time.

So I asked him to give me the sales pitch. It went something like this: Our product does A, B, and C. Here you can see what happens when you click this button, which shows this results. Then, when you click on the Reports icon, you can see all of the reports available, etc…

Sounds familiar? What is the problem with this approach? Well, to begin with it is very product focused. Not just features-oriented, but it is all about the product itself.

Marketing Lesson 1: You are not selling a product, you are solving a problem.

Ask yourself this question next time you are preparing to demo or sell your product or service. What is the problem I am trying to solve? How would the customer describe it?

That’s the first step. But it doesn’t stop there. You also have to understand what value you bring to the customer.

Marketing Lesson 2: You are not selling features, you are selling value.

Yup, this makes sense right? But hold on. Do you really understand what value you are providing with the product or service you are offering? Most people only scratch the surface when it comes to value. They say “with our service you don’t have to wait for taxis anymore” or “our new mobile app allows you to access your documents directly from the iPad!”. These are simply bland statements that anyone can make. Go a step further and ask “so what?”. For example, let’s take this hypothetical example of a company that has an iPad app that allows you to access your documents remotely.

The pitch: Our iPad app allows you to access your documents direcly from your iPad so that you will have them wherever you go.

Now let’s look at this and try to dig deeper. Why is this important to the customer? Oh, you see, before having our app they would have to carry their laptop with them, which is a pain. OK, we’re getting closer. What else? Well, we are targetting senior executives that need secure access to their documents and by using our app not only they can access from the iPad, they don’t need to save the files to the mobile device, which increases security. OK, this is good info, but why is this important? Because our competitors require the file to be downloaded first, which means a long wait before the user can actually see the document and it leaves the file on the device which compromises security. OK, but what is exactly the value here? Well, with our app executives can quickly access their extremely confidential documents from their iPads without having to worry about security leaks. Great, now we are in a much better shape. So let’s review our pitch.

New pitch: Executives worried about accessing confidential documents remotely can now do it securely from their iPads with a simple tap, no download necessary.

This is much better, not 100% but way better. You are talking about the customer, relating to their pain and problem, and addressing with a solution. I can see this playing out during a sales situation going something like this: “As an executive you need quick and secure access to confidential files when you’re on the road. Not only that, you want to be able to access files without having to wait for long downloads, and you want to make sure no trace is left behind. This is what we offer on our new iPad app. With our app you can…” and it continues.

The next step would be to really understand the value being provided so that you don’t fall into the features presentation trap. Faster mobile document access, for example, is just a feature. How would it help the customer? Well, they can get more done in short time. OK, this is it! Get things done faster while on the run without worrying about security and with an app that doesn’t get in your way.

As you are pitching / selling your startup idea, peel back the proverbial onion to really understand the benefit and value being provided. Few companies go through the trouble of doing it and that is why most corporate webistes look so bland and you can’t tell one from the other. By really understanding your customer pains, the problems they are trying to solve, and by really going deep into what exact value you bring to the table you will be able to craft a compelling sales pitch and position your startup above the competition.