Data, demonstrations and doughnuts won’t make the sale.
Let’s say you could go back in time. You invent the pencil and paper and are sure you’ve got a hit on your hands. This will be huge!
To get this thing off the ground, you invite 100 people to a demonstration of your incredible invention.
The guests arrive, devour your doughnuts and coffee and take their seats. Okay, they are ready to be blown away.
You place a few of your pencils and a few sheets of paper on the table up on your stage. You make a few simple drawings and pass them around. This is sure to astound them!
But what we hear are murmurs of, “he can’t draw very well” and “that’s not what I’d call art” and “It doesn’t even look like a cat”.
Okay, okay.
You write a few words on paper. Something like “this is a sample of what can be done with a pencil and paper”. Pass that around.
“he’s not much of a writer,” is the first thing you hear. People in the back rows sneak out.
Exasperated, you quit. “I’m sorry for wasting your time. I think my idea needs some more work,” you explain. The crowd files out except a couple of guys who come up to meet you.
“I was thinking, I might be able to use this for writing out lists of things that need to be done at our office. I could make a list and pass it to the right person who would see to it that things got done,” one guy says. The other one says, “I would use it at home to write down ideas as I thought of them. This is far better than a messy ink well.”
But you have to explain that your new product won’t be available because surely there isn’t enough demand for it. After all, if only two people of a hundred can can see the value….
Too bad. It seemed like a good idea.
Sad story.
But it’s only a sad story because you quit.
Do something remarkable (thanks Seth), and few people will really ‘get it’. Now consider this: wouldn’t you rather work for the two who get it than the ninety-eight who don’t?
Who are you working for?
Chris Reich wants you to work for the ones who get it. The sheep will follow.