Page 67 - The Bootstrapper Bible

ChangeThis Here are the two most important sales rules youʼll need: 1. SELL SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY (AND KNOW HOW TO BUY!). This sounds obvious, but in practice, itʼs not. The Edsel, for example, or jerky-flavored ba- nana chips require a missionary sale, a level of persistence and patience that might not be worth your time. Microsoft has introduced dozens of products that have failed miserably, and so has Disney, Apple, Motorola and lots of other well-respected (and some long-gone) com- panies. Figuring out what people want to buy is a two-step process. The first step is figuring out what theyʼre already buying. The second step is getting people to switch. Letʼs say, for example, youʼve got a great idea: welcome mats for corporations custom-made with their logo, perfect for making an even bigger impression on visitors. Guess what? Most companies donʼt have someone in charge of buying this product. And if they do, that person doesnʼt have a budget for an item like this. And if she did, sheʼd hesitate because sheʼs never bought anything like it before. What if her boss hates it? What if someone trips and sues the company? It will require bravery to buy this product, and guts and persis- tence for whatever salesman wants to sell it. In a nutshell, companies donʼt know how to buy a welcome mat, and so if you want to sell one, youʼve got your work cut out for you. Do you have Post-it notes on your desk? If so, itʼs only because 3M was persistent enough to spend years marketing them before they caught on. The problem was simple: they were sell- ing something no one knew they needed. Office supplies are sold almost entirely on a reorder basis: when you run out of something, you buy more. But no one had any Post-it notes, so they never ran out. | iss. 6.01 | i | U | X | + | ChangeThis is giving you manifestos like this free of charge. SEE the rest of them. h 67/103 f