1/ People don’t desire products, they desire feelings that products give them.
A few thoughts 👇
A few thoughts 👇
2/ Years ago, I was waiting in line at a paddle sports shop.
People were renting kayaks and canoes and getting fitted for life jackets. It was a brilliant, sunny day and the air buzzed with excitement.
People were renting kayaks and canoes and getting fitted for life jackets. It was a brilliant, sunny day and the air buzzed with excitement.
3/ On the back wall, I noticed a framed print that read:
“We don’t sell boats. We sell time on the water.”
Clever — and true. Very few people care about hull design or reinforced resin paddles. They want to soak up a summer afternoon. Spend time with people they love.
“We don’t sell boats. We sell time on the water.”
Clever — and true. Very few people care about hull design or reinforced resin paddles. They want to soak up a summer afternoon. Spend time with people they love.
4/ Those two framed sentences stayed with me, and they reflect how I think about my company, @JotForm:
"We don’t provide online forms. We make organizations more productive."
It’s a deceptively small difference. After all, who cares about forms?
"We don’t provide online forms. We make organizations more productive."
It’s a deceptively small difference. After all, who cares about forms?
5/ I started the company 12 years ago, and even I’m NOT passionate about forms.
What I do care about, though, is helping our 4.1 million customers to run more productive businesses.
I explained here how focusing on the customer can be a game changer: medium.com/swlh/how-liste…
What I do care about, though, is helping our 4.1 million customers to run more productive businesses.
I explained here how focusing on the customer can be a game changer: medium.com/swlh/how-liste…
6/ Take Slack, the fastest growing business app of all time.
In a 2013 memo, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield outlined his vision for the product just two weeks before its preview release.
He reminded the team that they were selling organizational transformation, not software:
In a 2013 memo, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield outlined his vision for the product just two weeks before its preview release.
He reminded the team that they were selling organizational transformation, not software:
7/ While Butterfield’s memo makes sense, it can be surprisingly tough to uncover your distinctive value; your version of “time on the water.”
That’s because you’re too close to the product. You are probably worried about micro-interactions * how the branding looks online.
That’s because you’re too close to the product. You are probably worried about micro-interactions * how the branding looks online.
8/ Here’s where listening comes in.
Across every industry, almost nothing will have a bigger impact on your business than listening to the people you serve.
Across every industry, almost nothing will have a bigger impact on your business than listening to the people you serve.
9/ And just like Slack, being customer-centric will help you to define a new market instead of battling it out in a large, well-defined space with clear incumbents.
10/ In our case, we could stay in the well-defined data collection market and compete with dozens of other online form builders. But we don’t.
Because, we don’t provide online forms. We make organizations more productive.
Because, we don’t provide online forms. We make organizations more productive.
11/ If you listen, they will tell you: focus on the customer, not the competition.
