Stop pushing and get a productocracy!

[MTEE1985]

This story was told when MJ was just a chubby kid wanting some ice cream when a Lamborghini pulled up and changed his life.

Imagine you own a beauty salon. Several times a week you have ladies walk in who want to buy a blue hair dryer. Unfortunately you don’t stock any. You stock a brown one. If you were good at sales, you could probably convince her to buy the brown one by saying it’ll match her wallpaper or her floor or something. If you were really good at sales, you could probably sell her a heat lamp and tell her if she simply shakes her head under the lamp, her hair will dry. Now, how much easier would your life be if you simply sold blue dryers?

People ask all the time, what is the #1 I should learn? Inevitably the most popular answer is sales.

But what if you could sell without selling? That is the modern day sales and it is a pull instead of a push. That is what the story was referring to and what we all call the productocracy. The storyteller? A professor at Harvard Business School named Theodore Levitt.

Levitt wrote an article titled “Marketing Myopia” if you ever have trouble falling asleep here it is: https://razaleads.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/marketing-myopia_t_levitt.pdf

Fair warning, it’s like watching paint dry, but it is absolutely brilliant. The tl;dr spelled out nicely on Wikipedia is that businesses will do better in the end if they concentrate on meeting customers’ needs rather than on selling products.

What is absolutely incredibly is that he wrote this article 60 years ago, told the above story 45 years ago and nothing has changed. His words, as well as MJ’s, will be just as valid 50 years from today.


Now go find yourself a productocracy and be successful beyond your wildest dreams.

*Small edits made to include great points brought up by @Charnell below.

 

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[Charnell]

The point of sales isn't to weasel your customer into something they don't want or need.

Now go find yourself a productocracy and be successful beyond your wildest dreams.

You can't just "tl;dr" years of process into one sentence. If it was as easy as that, we'd all be billionaires.

 

[MTEE1985]

The point of sales isn't to weasel your customer into something they don't want or need.

Of course not. That’s the point of his article which you didn’t have time to read before responding. By finding the need beforehand, selling doesn’t exist. It’s a pull vs. a push.

You can't just "tl;dr" years of process into one sentence. If it was as easy as that, we'd all be billionaires.

Exactly right, not sure which part of the post advocated there is a secret shortcut but not the intention. “Impact millions and you will make millions” sound familiar?

 

[Charnell]

Of course not. That’s the point of his article which you didn’t have time to read before responding. By finding the need beforehand, selling doesn’t exist. It’s a pull vs. a push.

Your example portrays sales is trying to push your product into your potential customer's hands no matter what.

"If you were really good at sales, you could probably sell her a heat lamp and tell her if she simply shakes her head under the lamp, her hair will dry."

That's not sales, that's mall kiosk and used car bullshit.

I didn't need to read the article because I've read it before.

 

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[MTEE1985]

Your example portrays sales is trying to push your product into your potential customer's hands no matter what.

"If you were really good at sales, you could probably sell her a heat lamp and tell her if she simply shakes her head under the lamp, her hair will dry."

That's not sales, that's mall kiosk and used car bullshit.

You’re right, that’s exactly what Levitt is trying to convey. Companies that refuse to asses and adjust are forced to start pushing while others address the need first and foremost and have a pull relationship with the market.

You said it in a more modern sense with mall kiosks and used cars

 

[focusedlife]

The BEST & EASIEST sales are the ones where you learn exactly what they want and show them how to get it (or sell that to them).

Not rocket surgery at all.

What takes more time is figuring out how to find those folks and getting in front of a bunch of'em quickly, and profitably imo.