Jason Fried on Sales, Learning, Software & Pricing

Everything is sales. We don’t have any sales people at 37signals, but everything we are doing is sales.

Sales isn’t so much gimmicky pricing ending in 9′s or copy writing, or ad placement – It is about communicating the value of your product.

I used to sell shoes, and we had reps come in and teach us about shoes. A rep would come in and talk about ethyl vinyl acetate, which is a foam that goes into shoes to help absorb shock. He’d be all pumped about EVA, and this technology, as if it really mattered. When customers come in they look at some shoes. They pick it up and flip it around a bit. Then you ask to try on a pair. People are looking for design, comfort and affordability. Nobody cares about EVA foam.

You have to understand in your product that you need to talk about what matters to the customer, because they don’t care about the tech.

Jason Fried has written many wonderful things over the years, and this quotation came from set of questions in one post. Some of the other questions include:

  • What is your perspective on being a student?
  • What are your thoughts on a flat management structure, and how it has served you at 37signals?
  • Tips for trying to keep a close relationship remotely?
  • In Rework there is a chapter about being a workaholic. What is the line between being inspired and being a workaholic?
  • How do you determine pricing on something like a web app?
  • How do you deal with other players in the market?

What impacts you the most in Samuel R Solomon’s post about Jason Fried’s thoughts?

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