Explaining to people a vision, the new masterful concept which will one day make billions upon billions of dollars is without a doubt one of the most daunting tasks an entrepreneur experiences.
Your job as an entrepreneur is to sell ideas to many people. You have to sell your ideas to developers, engineers, product development specialists, marketing and sales.
If you find that you have to explain something multiple times before people truly grasp your concepts this is a sign that you’re pitching something sophisticated. Sophisticated concepts take quite a bit more time to sell and require a highly customized marketing plan to target that unique market.
Then again, the flipside to highly sophisticated concepts are those that are so simple people just don’t get it. I sometimes think about the movie the Hudsucker Proxy with Tim Robbins. He has the idea for the Hula-hoop. He spends sometime in the movie showing people what the Hula-hoop looks like on a napkin. Basically, it’s a circle on a piece of paper and its quite funny watching him run around holding up this napkin with a drawn circle. He says “You know, it’s for kids”.
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March 23rd, 2007 00:49
I love that movie! You can’t keep a good man down.
Guy Kawasaki always tells people not to listen to others if you truly believe in your idea.
I’m sure people told Bill gates to stay in school, etc… The list like that could go on forever.
Same with giving up. There are a million success stories out there about people who tried and failed over and over until they had one big success.
It’s a shame when people either don’t try or give up too soon.
March 29th, 2007 18:12
In my experience, when communicating a new idea, product, service - whatever - it is imperative to think the idea, etc. deeply through to its “High-Concept,” i.e. distilling it down to one concise line that tells the whole story. In film and TV, it’s called the log-line: the one-sentence blurb in TV Guide that describes the movie or TV show.
This is not an easy discipline to master but it is essential in sales, no matter what it is that you’re selling. Often, if a person can’t communicate their Big Idea consicely, it’s because they do not quite know what it is they’re trying to sell.
Practice writing short summary synopses. Recognize what is essential and what is not in your summary. In writing, it’s called sticking to the major plot points. Avoid the details that may seem important to YOU but are merely distracting to your listener. Be merciless with yourself. Cut, cut, cut until you’re down to the bone.
The skillful use of metaphor is also key, linking the Big, New Idea to something that already exists: “It’s like…” When the U.S. Army was considering developing the tank for use in warfare, very few in the military establishment understood what possible practical use it could have until one brilliant mind realized that tanks were like armored horses and could be used as cavalry. Since the use of cavalry in warfare had a long tradition, everybody instantly understood the role of tank warfare; the Ah Ha! moment of understanding.