Don’t Sell Technology, Sell Magic

magician

Tech startups aren’t in the technology business. They’re in the magic business. I’m not talking about sleight of hand tricks, fooling people with funky props, or pretending to saw off someone’s head. I’m talking about providing magical experiences to customers. Startups need to sell magic.

Most customers don’t understand the technology that exists behind the products they use. Most don’t care. They don’t need to. The products they use just need to work. That’s it. In the course of working – and working incredibly well – those products delight and astound. They’re magical. If your product isn’t magical in how it works, how it makes people feel, it’s design, and the results it creates (the ROI to your customers!) … you have a problem. If you’re trying to sell technology for technology’s sake, you may impress a few people, but you’ll confuse and irritate more than you impress.

Customers want results. They’re attracted to products that delight them. They’re impressed by startups that communicate and respond quickly to their issues. They want value, and they want you to fit seamlessly into their lives. They want a lot. Really: they want magic. Sell magic, not technology.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

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November 2, 2011 Posted in Customer Development by Ben Yoskovitz

Anonymous

A good reminder to KISS.
http://www.instigatorblog.com Benjamin Yoskovitz

Thanks for commenting Jennifer, you’re absolutely right re: KISS.

Also, it’s important to package what you sell in a way that expresses the value and benefits to customers, and not focus on features, or on how great an infrastructure you have. Technology matters to you (as a tech company) but customers want problems solved. What you build, how you build it and how you sell it are different things.
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http://askaaronlee.com Aaron Lee

Great reminder, often times I go for the “magic” which in my opinion is the community, and the ex employer prefer to discuss about technology as magic and community as subject.

It was tough. Thanks for reminding
http://www.seoconsultant.ie SEO Consultant

So, so true…
http://www.optimum7.com Greg Baker

Amazing what technology can achieve
http://twitter.com/SmartSoftMarket Smart Soft Market

Customers care about WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Your startup should be solving a problem. Only you care about how that’s done, how clever you are.

We don’t care about the plumbing of the features, we just want the benefits.

And if you can wrap that up with some pizzazz and showmanship then yeah, that’s magic and we’ll love to talk about and buy by the bucketload
Pingback: Don't Sell Technology, Sell Magic | Technology News
http://stanleyrao.weebly.com/ Stanleyrao

You are right Ben! Customers don’t have any idea which technology that exists behind the products which they use
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=602599557 Carla Gates

You nailed it. I worked for a tech company where the customers just waned the magic but the CEO wanted to sell the technology. You can guess what happened.
krishnamaraju dommaraju

Sell the need it fulfills in the form of a product or a service.
http://myboatplans.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-boat-plans-full-review.html My Boat Plans Review

Pretty interesting blog post, was a pretty good article to read! thanks
http://www.redcornermagic.com fire magic

Technology is not selling magic props like magic class
rumah dijual

thanks for reminding
Blanee Com

we can say sell technology in a magical way
Marrywebpaper

Gvidon – Kosaken Tour
http://www.futurescrude.com crude oil futures

After all, customers are just customers, they only need what they want. We can say that they have no time to think about anything else besides what the products can bring them.
http://www.futurespress.com futures trading

Therefore, selling is an art. To succeed, sellers must get rid of the idea that they are selling technology because people don’t usually believe in technology.
http://www.kreditkortjamforelse.se/kreditkort-recensioner/ Elin @ Kreditkort

Magic makes our lives easier.
http://www.unionpluscreditcardz.com/ Unoin Card

True, most of the costumers don’t care how stuff works as long as it works
http://theblakefirm.com Texas Business Attorney

I like this message. reminds me of an article I read the other day saying that other presidential candidates can learn from Cain’s 9-9-9 plan, not because it’s a good plan, but because it’s catchy and doesn’t make people think too hard. Same goes for startups. Catchy phrases will often go a lot further than technical descriptions and specs.
Turkdude999

Yes, this is what the world needs, more magic. Especially Greece and Italy.
http://www.imigyled.com/product/mian LED Ceiling Lights

You made a great point here. Indeed, most customers do not undertand technology, but they can be easily attracted by something amazing that your product can do.
http://twitter.com/chrishadams Chris Adams

Great post Ben. There is a balance between product vision, magic, value and the “must-have” features that the client expects. With start-ups, good marketing and sales can convince new clients to ignore some features for a magical user experience.

Chris Adams
Co-founder & CTO
gShift Labs
http://www.gShiftLabs.com
SEO Software | Web Presence Optimization
http://www.answerassault.com Prude

Wonderful post. Instead of selling technology, we should sell magic. Magic interest people and they will end up buying your products to satisfy their curiosity. Thanks for sharing.
Pingback: 7 Selling Technology Sites – 1/21/2012 – Ipad Gadgets | WhichGadget.org

Ben Yoskovitz

I'm VP Product at GoInstant.

I'm also a Founding Partner at Year One Labs, an early stage accelerator in Montreal. Previously I founded Standout Jobs (and sold it).

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