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#1 Lesson from all of this: Instead of talking about your product to your prospect, talk about something your prospect cares deeply about to your prospect. I h
by edw519 14y ago
#1 Lesson from all of this: Instead of talking about your product to your prospect, talk about something your prospect cares deeply about to your prospect.
I had no idea what you did and didn't really care until you used it in context of something I did care about: Hacker News. Now I know what you do, understand how it applies to me, and best of all, I'm starting to visualize how else I could use it.
We should all approach our prospects like you just did here. Nice job!
- jaredcwhite 14y agoExcellent analysis of this analysis. :) Gives me ideas for my own blogging...
- cs702 14y agoI would be curious to see how 'meta-submissions' (i.e., posts about Hacker News itself, about Y-Combinator, and about YC-backed startups) rank in the charts versus the five categories shown in the rjmetrics blog post. (The blog post, which made it to the top of the HN front page, is itself a meta-submission!)
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- nealabq 14y agoThe HN Community is fascinated by the outside view of HN and eagerly gazes at the held-up mirror. One of our shared interests is emerging online social structure, of which we're an example. We're also attracted to self referential expression, such as HN comments about HN self-organization, HN self-policing, and HN self-referential comments.
- lbearl 14y agoWhich really could just indicate that we all have an interest in HN being a good resource for us to read.
- pattern 14y agoI enjoy finding out what I like, and exploring why I like it. I posit that this is an inherent property of appreciation which allows one get more out of something. The "meta-HN" stuff is an incarnation of this, and shows that HN is appreciated by a critical mass of people. This is a huge boon to the community as it leads to things such as people using Markdown syntax for clarity, proper spelling/punctuation, well thought-out comments, and often (but not always) a positive and constructive viewpoint aimed at advancing the discussion.
- Centigonal 14y agoPeople generally seem to be drawn in by meta-content, self-reference, recursion and the like. Remember how people went crazy about the central premise of "Inception?" Self-referential comments do, however, have a tendency to derail conversation from that which is being discussed. In a threaded comment system, that tends to garner frustration after the initial novelty of the ideas has worn off. Case in point: Reddit has a weird attitude toward self-reference. Over the last year or so, there's been a (personally perceived) decline in self-referential memes, and redditors seem to see it as derivative now.
- majormajor 14y agoI don't see that as an "instead of." He talked directly about his product, he just picked a very good, relatable example. And then showed specific details about how his product helps you do it. Most of Apple's commercials are like this: they show their product directly, and they show how you might use it for specific things. Compare that to some vague "we think you're a good person, and we're good people too" branding commercial that tries to relate without showing what I'd actually get out of using their products, or a product-featuring but otherwise short on examples commercial with people throwing Surface tablets around like frisbees. So absolutely tell your prospects how your product will let them do things they want to do—if you don't understand what they want to do well enough to be able to do this, they aren't very good prospects yet—but always focus on your product, because that's what you have to sell, and that's what people are going to be willing to pay for.
- hammock 14y ago>#1 Lesson from all of this: Instead of talking about your product to your prospect, talk about something your prospect cares deeply about to your prospect. Better yet, make your product something that your prospects will care deeply about. That way you can kill both birds with one stone.
- run4yourlives 14y agoTranslation for those that missed it: This post is a (very good) sales pitch.
- ynniv 14y agoNo, this post is the best kind of sales pitch. Instead of pitching his product, he uses it to create value for his clients. I found it an excellent read.
- charleshaanel 14y agoPut another way this is classic "story selling" - wherein you use a captivating story to demonstrate all the points you would in a traditional pitch. Good stuff