In week 3 of JMP Academy we will ask you to work in teams to record a dreadful demo.
So you might be wondering: how can I drive down the value that the prospective customer sees in the product that I am presenting to them?
The answer: show them more features... Then show some more... Then some more again. More is less when it comes to perceived value.
If each feature that you show has some value to the customer, you would think you are increasing the value that the customer sees with each feature that you present. But this brilliant TED Talk tells us that the value does not add up, it averages out.
"By increasing the number of arguments, you do not strengthen your case, but rather you actively weaken it. Put another way, you cannot increase the quality of an argument by simply increasing the quantity of your argument."
Imagine you have a customer and you show them 10 features in JMP. For each feature that you present we could assign a dollar value - how much would the customer be willing to pay to have just this capability?
Now, to be clear, all of these features are brilliant and will have huge value for the right customer. But here we are imagining the value to a specific customer. Graph Builder and Custom DOE have big value for this customer because they will help them to solve some big problems. Text Explorer and Query Builder are interesting but they don't need them right now.
We might think that after showing all 10 features the overall value that the customer sees is the sum of the value of all features (blue line, below). That is, with each feature you show you are adding a little more to the value that the customer sees, and the overall value will be increasing.
In fact, the overall value that the customer perceives is the average of the values of all the features they have seen (red line).
If you stop after showing Custom DOE, the customer would come away with the maximum perception of value of the product. Distribution would be a valuable feature for them but not as valuable as Custom DOE. By proceeding to show Distribution you will lower the perceived value to the customer. By showing more features, you can drive that value down much, much further.
If you want to drive down the value that the customer sees, show them another feature that is less valuable to them than the features that they have already seen. And then another one. And another one.
Better still, show them loads of low-value features first so that you run out of time before you can show them the really valuable feature.
If nothing else, you should always try to finish with the least valuable feature. Due to recency bias, that will be the one they remember best.
By showing more features you can also:
- Frustrate the customer by using up their valuable time
- Reduce your credibility with the customer because you clearly have not bothered to understand their most important needs
- Add to their worry about how complicated it will be to actually use your product
- Start them thinking about how much they will be paying for features they don't need
I hope that you have found this useful in helping you to create a dreadful demo.
Thanks Phil!
This is so true and practical. An optimum demo is an important skill.
