Malcom Gladwell's book 'What The Dog Saw' includes a wonderful yarn about a family of pitchmen and innovators who masted the art of disrupting people's lives. Reading the story, I saw a number of important opportunities for any company that's trying to grow their business through innovation.
I know of a company that, just a few years ago, introduced a wildly unique product innovation in it's market that would protect clients from long term losses in their retirement investments. There were market studies which suggested success. The need was obvious, the solution helpful and simple enough to understand and the price was reasonable. It should have been a wild success. Only it wasn't...
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60+ years ago a 13 year old boy was selling his father’s inventions at the Maxwell Street Flea Market in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to making good money, he was learning the art of selling innovations to people. Success required enabling people to see things done a new way and valuing them…enough to get their wallets out and buy one right there.
Before he was 20 he was convincing people in the busiest places in the country – in fact according to Gladwell's chronicle, crowds planned their lunch hours to see him perform – to disrupt their lives, the way they did things, and try it his way. Along the way, he had mastered what I now see as the art of selling innovations to people. He realized that:
…innovations are disruptive - and people aren't begging for disruption
…people like their routines and rituals - giving them up isn't pleasing
…sincerity, fame or good looks might sell deodorant - but not something truly different
…the innovation has to be explained to people; not once; not twice but three or four times – each time with a new twist
…you have to show the customer exactly how the innovation works
…you have to help them see why it works
…you have to tell them precisely how it fits into their routine
…you have to sell the paradox: even though this innovation is 'revolutionary', it’s easy to use
The teenage-to-master pitchman was Ron Popeil and his family’s gadgets included the Chop-O-Matic and Slice-O-Matic and myriad ‘O-Matics since then . Ron may be the most successful pitchman in the history of the world. His success, though, wasn't due to the idea that the products were awesome – which they were. It also wasn't because the products were inexpensive - they weren’t. It wasn't because he regularly hit on a key need people had - people didn’t need them.
His real talent: He could make people see themselves using his innovations.
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See-Think-Act is a tool I use to boil lessons down to their essence:
What do I see?
How do I think about what I'm seeing?
What action will I take with this new insight?
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The See-Think-Act for selling innovations is this:
See the barriers for your innovation as it's opportunity for value. The company I mentioned earlier knew their clients could benefit from the product - and I can assure you that the clients who bought it are glad today that they did. Sadly, not enough did to make it viable so the firm had to stop offering it. Why? It's hard to say - though many I am sure would tell you they know why. Here is what I know - the barriers kept a difference-making innovation from helping the people it was designed for.
Think about not only what they'll do with the innovation but how they will feel about it. If we could envision, for example, someone sleeping better at night just knowing they've bought your new thingamajig, wouldn't it be fun to list all the benefits that accrue to people who sleep more soundly at night? What if you could make your client - literally - feel more relaxed and live a more full life just because of your innovation.
Act out the future for them - help them see themselves using it/owning it/talking about it with their friends. It is folly to assume that your client can visualize a future with your innovation. Do you remember the Apple IPod commercials with people dancing and smiling with the white headphones dangling from their ears? Apple didn't show people how to use the IPod. They showed people how to ENJOY!! the IPod.
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Whether we're selling pasta machines, life insurance, retirement plan services or wireless book readers we might think ourselves as being on a higher plane than Chop-O-Matics and infomercials. After all, who wants to be that successful....
Copyright 2011, Lance Kesterson and BroadlightThinking
