On Friday, I made a bet with you:

I bet $76 billion dollars that you've never bought a pair of shoes. In fact, I bet NO ONE YOU KNOW has EVER bought shoes.

I wish someone had taken the bet but FINE – maybe you knew it was a trick question. I sort of made it obvious with the whole $76,000,000 thing.

But HAH, joke's on you:

Back to the bet!

The US shoe industry rakes in $76 billion dollars in revenue.

That means, people are buying shoes. Duh.

Except... they aren't. Not a single person has ever bought a shoe in the history of human civilization.

Because...

We don't buy shoes.
We don't buy a house.
We don't buy a car.
We don't buy a holiday card for our mothers.
We don't buy software.

Instead we buy:

The feeling of looking sharp.
A legacy.
Family roadtrips.
Connection.
Whatever your product does for developers.

I've been reading the short read Selling 101 by Zig Ziglar who has been mentioned many, many times in other books I read before.

He says:

We never lead with product. We lead with needs.

His friend and fellow trainer, Don Hutson, says that everyone is listening to the same radio station: WII-FM.

What's In It For Me?

Sometimes I see the advice that developers don't want to talk about outcomes they want to see features. And that's true – kind of.

The next step is realizing that it isn't about the features. It's about what those features do for them – the desired outcomes.

Upskilling your developer audience means educating them on what's it in for them. When you think of it like that, you'll begin to see that you could create even more valuable content that helps them win at the bigger game they're playing.

Have a lovely day,
Kamran

_{Here's a non-greasy link to the book. I got it from the library. I'd recommend it, it's helpful.}