Don’t ‘Sell’ Blockchain.

“I get at least two or three calls a day with people trying to sell me a blockchain solution, and I turn them all away.”

That is a real quote from a senior executive at one of the English Premier League’s leading clubs.

I’m glad I knew this before I went knocking on his door, as quite honestly, I had been that person. Even with existing friends and contacts…

Them: “What does Omnitude do, Ben?”

Me: “Well Omnitude is a Blockchain company focussing on…”

THUD (That's the sound of their head hitting the desk as they fall asleep in front of me)

Let's not forget some of the principles of selling here:

1. It's not about you or your product. It's about them.
2. It’s never been about you or your product. It’s always been about them.
3. Please see points 1 and 2 repeatedly.

BLOCKCHAIN!!! Every person under the sun is now using this word in their marketing and sales collateral in order to capture even the most minute piece of attention from their prospect list. The problem is simply that this word has lost most of, if not all of, its impact in grabbing attention.

It is a buzzword. No-one on the receiving end of your thin-veiled pitch has a working knowledge of what it is, or what it does, let alone how it will help them.

I recently set our brilliant Marketing team a task to run some of the content through our #Blocktober social media campaign without using any technical jargon at all.

The reason why is a fairly simple one. No-one cares. At least not at the point of introduction.

People want to know that you understand their business. That you can understand their needs and concerns. And above all else, you can provide an outcome that meets these needs and eradicates these concerns.

Tell stories. Provide case studies. Talk about the future and envision a world where problems don't exist.

I’m no mechanic, so when I go to a garage to get my car fixed and someone tells me that my alternator is fried, or that only 7 cylinders are firing (yep, I Googled that), I am not interested in how they are going to fix it, I only want proof that they can. That they can do it in a reasonable time at a reasonable price.

Don't tell me what tools you’re using. Or the techniques available to ensure a quick delivery.

The same applies to what we are doing when we speak to these giants of industry. Spend time finding business needs. Be human and open. By all means, educate if required, but don't be in a rush to push your blockchain ideas down the throat of a prospect. It’s the quickest way to alienate your potential customer.

So why am I writing about this right now? Why not keep this little nugget of information to myself?

Quite frankly, the rest of you people that aren't taking my advice here are not only making it hard for yourselves, but you are giving the rest of us a bad name.

Our industry is in its infancy and the technology will improve. The use-cases will follow and the adoption rates will be steep, and we have room for us all to have our successes along the way. Don't be in a rush to trip yourselves up by selling the technology. Sell the answer to their problems.