Engine? Check.
Four wheels? Check.
Power locks? Ch... Hey, wait a minute! Where are the power locks?!?
Recently, I bought a new car and one thing took me by surprise.
Almost every brochure, salesperson, and YouTube video mentioned power locks and windows. Does anyone ever make a car purchase decision based on a single feature especially power locks or power windows or other table stakes?
And if not, why even mention it? Instead, why not focus on the items that really make the car stand out and the things that differentiate it from all the other vehicles on the market.
In the automobile industry Subaru’s current TV ad campaign would be an example. Instead of focusing on features, Subaru focuses on outcomes, like happy, safe families, and not features.
So, assume the target buyer is truly the business person (you know, someone who has a need to drive the bottom line, but probably doesn't care about the fiddly technical details.) What can the business intelligence industry learn from the Subaru ads? Perhaps instead of merely listing debatable features in marketing materials, banner ads and presentations, such as “easy dashboards” and "more widgets" the focus was on outcomes and how they help you achieve them. What if the focus was on the following outcomes:
- Present your data in a way that people understand
- Have collaborative meetings around your data
- Make your data presentations living documents
These outcomes could then be tied to specific features and how those features drive the desired outcomes. Just a thought. By the way, did you see Subaru’s sales results its most recent fiscal year?
I'm just sayin'.