This is an entrepreneur tip that I can’t stress enough: The main benefit of your product or service should be explained in one sentence. Not two. Not a page or a business plan. You need to tell someone exactly how it will benefit them in one sentence or less.
One time, I was working with a client who wanted to start a business. I asked him to imagine I was an investor, and pitch to me like he would in real life. Aside from me sucking at acting, it went something like this.
“Hi, Jason. I am the founder of a company that will deliver intelligence and web innovation, through the use of PDA’s and the Internet. What we do is take all of the input algorithms and filter them through a collective database the allows for us to query ……….”
I walked out of the room and continued on to my next appointment. Not because I felt like being an ass, but I told him time and time and time again that it needs to be done in one sentence or less. The entire model needs to be simplified to the point of drawing on a 3×5 notecard.
Take for example iPod. Rather than market an already competitive product with the standard, “4GB mp3 player with a touchpad,” they made it real for consumers. They advertised, “1,000 songs in your pocket.” Apple made the customer stop and think, “Wow, is that really possible?” Hell, most people don’t know that your average song is 4 MB or that there are 1000 MB in a GB. They just know that more expensive equals more songs.
Imagine walking up to the president of a company and saying, “I want to build this software that will accomplish x,y and z. He will probably tell you he is too busy. But if you walk up to him and say, “I want to save the company $400,000, but I need $20,000 to do it,” that will invite questions!
The goal of the one-sentence technique is to encourage questions and further interest. Make it real for them, pique their curiosity, and you further details can follow.
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