Is Your Product Indispensable?

Josh Pollock - June 08, 2015

There are two types of products — products that make something easier and products that makes something possible. Keep in mind that “possible” is relative to who you are selling to.

If you don’t know who you are selling to, or what those people can and can’t do, then you are not ready to sell anything. Once you do, imagine the story your users will be telling themselves about your product:

Doing X used to be a pain. Then I purchased product Y. Now X is easier and faster.

If that’s the story that users tell about your product, that’s good. You have a real value proposition for them. That said, it’s nothing compared to this type of story they could tell about your product:

I used to want to do X, but didn’t know how. Then I purchased product Y. Now I can do X.”

You see the difference between these stories your ideal customers can tell themselves? In one you reduced their pain in exchange for money. If the pain is enough relative to the available funds, and how cheap they are, then you have a sale.

In the other story — they wanted to do something, but couldn’t, until your product made it possible. That product is indispensable. It’s not a “nice to have,” it is  a “must have” something your ideal customer can’t live without.