Myth #1: A Great Product Makes All the Difference
Not necessarily. Yes, it does help to have a good product-no matter what market you’re in. If your product is ineffective, buggy or just plain doesn’t do what you’ve said it will, you won’t succeed long term. But having a good product, or even a great one, isn’t necessarily enough. Because the bottom line is customers don’t really buy products. They do invest in solutions to their most pressing business needs-either new or more effective ways to solve a problem, or more efficient or innovative ways to take advantage of business opportunities. They may take advice from trusted business partners who have a proven understanding of their business, the environment they sell in, their top customer needs, etc. Depending on the market and the nature of a particular customer, they may really be interested buying security or innovation, ease of use or faster time to market, lower cost or higher perceived value
True, there are some products that succeed because they’re really cool and different. But those are the exceptions. We’ve all heard of terrific, faster, better, innovative, more higher-performing products that don’t succeed in the marketplace. There may be many reasons for this, but top of the list is often simply that having a great product just isn’t enough. You’ve got to have the right product, together with the right messages and a way to let the right customers know about them.
