The Failure of Better Mouse Traps

Wouldn't it be great if life were simple??If you want to launch a successful new venture, you just create a better mousetrap than the one your market is currently using.?Unfortunately, simple answers are rarely?the correct ones.?History is full of examples of better mousetraps that failed?miserably.?On the other hand, companies with an inferior offering often do extremely well even forcing better technologies and solutions out of the market.??

The real truism of the mousetrap?should read, "the entrepreneurs who convince?the market that their mousetrap?is better will win".?“Having” and “convincing” are two very different things and require different skill sets.?

?When I was in college the big debate was over which computer operating system would dominate the new PC industry.?IBM? had the clearly superior offering called OS2 whereas Microsoft was pushing a Windows-based menu system which ran on top of an early primitive OS called DOS.?OS2 was equally graphical and could do everything the contrived windowing system could do.?Not to mention, it was a real unified OS that was more robust, faster and much more versatile than anything Microsoft had to offer at the time.?It was obvious to everyone in the industry that IBM’s superior mouse trap would stomp the imposter OS.?IBM launched complex marketing campaigns touting how their product was “multi-threaded, instance-enabled and fully 8088-compatible.”?Microsoft’s campaigns were very different.?Since it could not win in a technical feature shootout, its ads just hammered away at a single value proposition; “our product is easy to use”.???

You did not have to live through those years to realize that we are not using OS2 on our PCs today.?Most customers did not care about the product features or tech specs.?Ease-of-use was by far their most dominate buying motivation.?

So why do so many better mousetraps fail?

Pitching features over value propositions

The OS wars were my first exposure to the dominance of value positioning over product features.?It's hard to accept, especially for more technical entrepreneurs, that product?and code are really just a necessary evil in your business.?No one wants your product.?I often tell entrepreneurs that if they sold a green pill?that could provide the same benefits as their software, then their customers would gladly just buy the pill. ?Customers only want the benefits your product can provide.?Everything else is packaging.?

It is said that Lowes stores sold over half a million quarter inch drill bits last year to people who did not even want a drill bit.?All they wanted was quarter inch holes!?The bit was a necessary means to the desired outcome.?I can’t tell you how many sales pitches I’ve listened in on where the entrepreneurs did a full demo of the software and never once mentioned a value proposition.?People buy value propositions not technology so talk in terms of customer benefits not technical features.?

Assuming your value propositions are obvious??

Another marketing war I had the privilege of watching in my youth was the big burger war.?At the time McDonnel’s was trying to take market share away from A&W in several geographies.?McDonnel’s was doing very well with their first quarter pound burger offering so A&W countered with a better mousetrap…a one third pound burger for an even lower price.?Every ad and commercial touted their new “one third pounder” which did not do well at all.?It was realized too late that many customers saw the lower price and just assumed that one third was smaller than McDonnel’s quarter pound burger!?And why not??In none of A&W’s marketing did they actually state that their burger was bigger, more filling or a better value than McDonald’s offering.?They simply assumed that by stating the product feature, their customers would automatically realize the unstated benefit.

?Use value proposition connector phrases

If you must describe a product feature or technical function, make sure that you always tie it to the benefit if affords.?We train our entrepreneurs to use “connector phrases” like “what this means to you is…” or “the reason this is important is because…” and “this feature will enable you to…”???The best thing about a connector phrase is it forces you to connect something to it i.e., a benefits statement.??

?Conclusion

?It's not about your technology.?It’s all about the benefits your product creates like the ability to work faster, more accurately, more cost-effectively, etc.?Force yourself to speak in terms of value props rather than product features.?It’s great to have a better mouse trap but it is even more important to have clearly articulated value propositions that resonate with potential buyers.??