Jared Jeffrey Davis – Sell more than your business

It’s not common that you can get Jared Jeffrey Davis on a Skype call with a startup founder.

He spoke to a startup founder whose words were quite direct: “We don’t sell forms. We just make organizations more effective in what they do.” He stated that “It’s just a small difference but who cares about boring surveys? It’s not all that great of a subject.”

I’ve not heard of this business before. Jared Jeffrey Davis mentioned that it’s just another website that you can build surveys with. That was my initial impression.

Does this assumption seem a bit arrogant? Maybe. I could have gone on the internet and found out more about such businesses. But at least I’m familiar with Google Forms. TypeForm was on the move with numerous investments. These were the up and coming trends among the recent startups.

But what I didn’t realize is that I was sitting with a man who would impact me to such an extent that it would change everything I knew about doing business.

See through the boredom of your business

The charts that this startup founder revealed to me was amazing. His screen contained the numbers of both paid and free users that he acquired for his company. I’ve of course never heard the names of those people before, and the numbers were higher than many of his competitors featured on TechCrunch.

This company was built up without any outside funding, and he was able to bring it up to 5 million users.

Venture capitals rule Silicon Valley. But for this entrepreneur, he wasn’t interested in spending money on PR agencies to announce his investment rounds to drum up support for his brand. None of these things mattered to him.

He was into selling “productivity for your organization” not “boring forms.” He was obsessed with this concept of productivity. His mentality was entirely focused on making his customers more productive and more successful.

He’s not into shoving his product down your throat. He simply sells something bigger. He wants to make your organization more productive. This type of selling – not forms, but selling customer success has grown his firm by over 50,000 users per month.

But here is what interests us all in this process. What is this concept of selling something bigger and putting this to work for your day-to-day business?

And what do you do to find your “bigger concept” in all the work you do?

What does “something bigger” mean?

You’re capturing attention by presenting and selling an idea that is bigger than a product. It’s not making dollars by selling a thing.

We call this “something bigger” your “core narrative.” This narrative is something that you sell beyond your product. It’s the concept behind your otherwise selfish and boring brand.

Selling that core narrative is not just powerful but it will bring profits for you. In an earlier article, I gave that narrative philosophy using examples and reviewed Slack and intercom, some of today’s growing startups.

Intercom doesn’t get involved in hard-sell of their products. Their chatbot apps are boring. But they’re selling something greater, their core narrative. They want to make internet business more personal. This narrative actually impacts behavior within their company. This goes from deciding on features to all other departments. This includes their:

* Content teams: They don’t write blog posts about sending automatic messages with Intercom. Rather, they discuss how to craft messages that engage customers. It is such value-driven blogging that has been most effective for them. Product-driven methods have proven less effective.

* Customer support and partnerships: Intercom’s leader for platform partnerships reveal how their company narrative helps them narrow down their list of candidates for employment in their support team.

Identifying your core narrative helps sell your product without pushing it down their throats. The behavior of your employees will be impacted by the narrative you present. Teams who may simply run around like headless chickens searching for the next product sale will be turned around. They can work towards a clear focus that helps them get to where they are going.

By selling something bigger than a thing, you grab attention because of the idea you present. It’s bigger than capturing dollars by making the next sale.

How should you identify your core narrative? Figure out what’s success for your customers, then help them get there. It’s important for you to care about your customer’s business. They really don’t care about your business. They want to be successful, impress their boss, or just live a better life.

This is the vital reason you need to go much further beyond your boring selfish brand or product. Jared Jeffrey Davis does this by defining success for his customers and developing a narrative to tell the story of how you or your product will help them get there.

Now for the subtle difference

The aim is not to help them get better at using your product but helping them to do what they do better. This could be in their personal or professional life.

Jared Jeffrey Davis understood that all businesses can sell or tell their core narrative

For example, if your company is in the market to sell accounting software, you’re not just selling software. You’re giving your customers freedom to build the product they love instead of wasting time and energy on accounting.

What you are selling is a better life or a better version of who they are.

Don’t sell a product. Tell a story.