When I looked at BuzzLogic.com yesterday, it reminded me of Groove.net, the site I spent years maintaining, but am no longer involved with. Groove, for those who don’t know, is a “fat client” application that enables really unique forms of collaboration - and it was intended to be as revolutionary as the web browser.
Sorry to say it, but Groove Networks failed as a company. Sure, they were bought out by Microsoft, but they were bought at a bargain basement price. Why didn’t Groove catch on? Because the company sold it as a solution, not a product.
But wait - isn’t conventional wisdom that you’re supposed to sell solutions, not products? Well, that depends. It depends on who’s making the decision to purchase. How many digits are in your product’s cost? If there are five or more, you’re selling to a company - in the form of an executive board, and “ops” committee. If there are four or less, you’re selling to a flesh and blood human being.
Human beings are not persuaded by bullet points or buzzwords. They want to see something cool. And don’t force people to “self-select” what their role is - so they can receive a stripped down subset of information about what you think matters to them. Just show them what it does, and let them decide how they can best make use of it. Some of the most successful products became successful because they were used in ways never intended by their creators. Lotus Notes was NOT created as an email system, but email is what made it successful. MySpace was originally created as a site for promoting independent rock bands. Groove was originally designed around using specialized collaborative tools - but it ended up being used 75% of the time for simple file sharing. And, of course, duct tape and WD-40 - ’nuff said.
And if you’re a company nobody’s heard of, you are definitely selling to flesh and blood human beings - because the only people who are going to know about it are the bleeding edge early adopters. These people have heard about the product not because its an efficient business “solution”, but because it’s cool technology. These people are the least likely to be impressed by bullet points and buzzwords, and the most likely to be impressed by live demos and “30 day trials.” Even if what the product does has nothing to do with their job, these are the people who will spread the word to the appropriate person in their organization.
So, when do you sell solutions? Well, you sell solutions if you’re actually selling solutions. Solutions have many moving parts. If your company is in the business of assembling multiple tools in ways uniquely tailored for each customer, you’re selling a solution. An eCommerce platform is a solution. An .EXE file is a product. Also, you sell solutions if you are truly selling - as in cold-calling, Glengarry Glen Ross style - to people who have no idea who you are or why they want to talk to you - but are easily swayed by slick pitches over the phone. Of course, this style of marketing is slowly going the way of the door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I doubt BuzzLogic is cold calling to get customers.
“Champions” within a company - usually early adopters - buy products. Ops committees buy solutions. Ops committees are in the business of defining problems and allocating resources (primarily money) to get the problems solved. They do not have time or inclination to learn about the gory details. They just want to throw money and a human resource or two at the problem and know that it will be resolved. Buzzwords, bullet points, and “marketecture” are totally appropriate ways to sell to this audience. However, unless you’re Microsoft, Oracle, or SalesForce.com, you’ve got a problem. Throwing large amounts of money around to solve complex problems is a very risky venture. Companies mitigate this risk by buying solutions from known, big players, who have proven their capabilities with other large, successful companies.
Groove failed because they sold solutions as if they were Microsoft or Oracle. Groove made some huge deals, but most of these deals were not made with Groove Networks, Inc., but with “that new company from the guy who made Lotus Notes”. Groove had Ray Ozzie as an unfair advantage, and still failed. If you’re a tiny startup without a Ray Ozzie on your board, and you try selling solutions in this manner, you will fare even worse.
Summing up: If you’re just starting out, just sell the product. Make it cool, make it easy to use, make it sexy to geeks - these are the only people looking at it! Once you’ve grown big enough that executives are reading about you in the Wall Street Journal, then start selling solutions - and tack a couple zeroes on the price. You’ve earned it.
Filed under Marketing, The Internet Biz
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Someone on Flickr hypothetically asked what Seth Godin might think about balloons being used to sell cars. Seth not so hypothetically responded on his blog, basically saying: “Because it looks like [they’re] trying.”