Market, don’t present — Kelford Labs Daily

There’s an extremely common and classic marketing mistake that’s been on my mind lately as I’ve been working on some new Kelford Inc. offerings.

When entrepreneurs launch new offerings, there’s this tendency to just... ask people about it.

What I mean is, when they have something to sell, instead of marketing it, they present it.

They set up calls under the guise of getting feedback on their offering, or “sharing something they’ve been working on,” in the hopes that when they present their new offering the prospect is so impressed that they buy it on the spot.

But, instead, they hear something like, “This is great, keep me posted on it.” Or, “Oh, I can see how great this could be. I’ll let you know if I know anyone who could use it.”

Or: “This is exactly what the market needs, but we can’t afford to fund it right now.”

The frustration builds. If it’s so great why didn’t they buy? they wonder. Why would they tell me they like it if they don’t want it? they think.

And the answer is, because if marketing were that easy none of us would ever struggle.

We can’t just present an offering and expect people to buy on the spot. That would be wild. Imagine if you did that: Every time someone mentioned something you could buy, you just bought it? You’d be broke and awfully busy awfully fast.

The simple reason they didn’t buy is because they weren’t ready to.

Just because we’re ready to sell, that doesn’t mean customers are ready to buy.

Because we might be talking:

1) to the wrong person

2) at the wrong time

3) in the wrong way

The person we’re presenting to might be the wrong customer for us, even if we have something we think they need.

Or they might not have any urgency right now. So taking them through a slide deck or a demo can’t work because they’re in no rush.

But the big one is that we didn’t demonstrate, we presented. We talked all about us, our idea, our offering all in an attempt to validate our idea.

But we didn’t spend any time validating our audience, the prospect.

Is the person you’re talking to in a position where they would ever buy?

Is the person you’re talking to currently experiencing a need or struggle that this offering would address?

And did you take the time, ahead of time, to demonstrate the value of your offering at a distance to them before you ever spoke, so they were already convinced of its worth?

If we want to sell, we have to market. And the feedback the market gives us about the offering is how we continue to validate and improve upon it. Instead of just soliciting a bunch of advice from uninterested interviewees.

The frustrating fact is, we can’t just present our idea to audiences who we think need it and expect them to want it.

Nothing’s that easy, but what we must do isn’t that difficult.

We just have to demonstrate our value at a distance, across space and across time.

Which requires focus and patience.

To market, not just present.

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