Got A Great Idea? But, Can You Sell It?

This week I had a meeting with a long time client.  They are from outside of the Des Moines area so when they come to town we spend most of the day in review and forecasting.   A vendor, who has a neat new gadget for a web based application, had been after me since June to bring them to his office for a "look" and an "explanation" of what his company gadget is and how it works and what it would do for our client.

This was the day we were to have the meeting that had been scheduled for weeks.

It bombed. 

We sat there for nearly an hour (a very precious hour) and when we left we had not seen the "gadget", had no idea how it might impact our customers and we had no idea of how much the whole thing might cost us.

There is a lesson here for smart, enthusiastic young people who have great ideas...I know I should not even HAVE to write this but,

Finish the "great idea" with a sales pitch that answers my questions. 

You know, I've seen it both ways:  1)  Folks who have NO product but a great pitch & 2)  Folks who have a great product but NO pitch - can we meet someplace in the middle?

The same thing has happened three times in the past four months.  Maybe it's a call to you bright, innovative folks to hire an advertising agency to help you "sell" the product or at least create the pitch?   As is often the case, the folks who create "whatever" usually have a horrible time selling it.  You might have the finest product in the world but if you can't make the case, it's a no sale.

That's were people like us come in...  Our job is to help your potential customers "get it".  So you can "sell it".  Make sense?

Thanks for reading - You can keep up with us on Twitter - @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV