You'll have to excuse me, I'm a little slow. It wasn't until
recently that a few thoughts just coalesced in my brain.
- If you have a well differentiated product, it's, by definition,
going to be hard to explain.
In a previous post ("Make it easy to
share") I noted that "the more interesting the work being done,
the more likely the idea [of the work] is going to be hard to
explain." What didn't quite trigger in my brain was that the
interesting work is often "niche." The reason that it is hard to
explain is the same reason that it is good work to be doing: no one
else is doing quite the same thing.
I often enjoy well-explained things. Even better, demos (like this one).
Understanding is critical to sell an idea (whether as in $$ sales
or simply to get people onboard with a project / idea). It was my recent post on
the Mini Cooper & Lotus Elise - about the Mini being
well-differentiated - when finally the lightbulb came on for me.
The Mini, while being well-differentiated, doesn't need an
explanation: it has a demo (the car).
If an idea easy to explain, it's may not be worth doing.
If it's hard to explain, it's worth finding a simple
explanation.
If it's hard to understand, a demo is probably really important
to its success.
People need aha! moments - and if you're selling something,
you'd better provide it.