[11616] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Internet benefits-summary and questions
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Pete Farmer)
Mon Apr 11 18:15:44 1994
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 09:52:28 -0700
To: com-priv@psi.com
From: petef@well.com (Pete Farmer)
>From: stpeters@dawn.crd.ge.com
>Interaction is crucial to business in a continuous, ongoing way. You
>would not articulate the value of the telephone to business by listing
>a bunch of calls you made to place or receive orders. To get across its
>real value, you would have to talk about its role in "social" networking,
>building relationships with customers and suppliers and colleagues. You
>might find an occasional call that by itself justified a telephone - "The
>building caught fire, but I saved it by calling the fire department" - but
>basing a case for telephones in business on them misses the essence of
>what telephones are for. Same for the Internet.
I have no dispute with your contention about how telephone use and Internet
use changes the nature of social interaction etc. etc. Unfortunately, this
is an *unpersuasive* marketing argument, particularly when you are
addressing someone who's new to electronic communications.
The answer to "How can I persuade someone to get onto the Internet?" is
different than the answer to "What is the real value of the Internet?"
Talk to the unconverted about the Net's "role in social networking," and
you'll see their eyes glaze over. But give them a single, simple, tangible
example of how they can use it *today* to bring them immediate benefits,
and you might "close the sale."
The best marketing pitches are simple ones.
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Peter J. Farmer Internet: petef@well.com
Tetherless Access Ltd. Voice: 415-321-5968
Fax: 415-321-5048
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