Don't Sell Your Product, Sell Your Concept

I think this is bad advice for just about everyone. Tossing out the hard sell of all of your "solutions", when a customer came looking for something specific? I'm pretty sure I'd hang up and call the next vendor on my list. I want expertise and personalized service, not some greedy doofus doing a half-assed job at a dozen different things and expecting me to consider that a positive thing.

As a small company, you must focus. Be the best at one thing, before even thinking about being a dozen things. When you're bigger (and have established yourself as the best whatever in the world) you can expand. Be strong in one area, and leave everything else to others. Maybe later, you'll have to resources to tackle multiple areas...but even then, the moment you take your eye off of your core business, there will be a half-dozen competitors who are more focused who eat your lunch.

Nobody has a need for "solutions"... you use the word "solution" in your pitch, unless its saying "I've got a solution to your specfic problem and its product X" is going to lose customers.

People have learned to tune out that smarmy vague marketing junk.

And, by the way, his two examples are off the mark-- lowes advertises products. Google doesn't advertise but when they do talk about their service they talk about the products.... the specifics of the product.

I am constantly amazed at the number of people who put vague bs on their sites.

I can't count the number of times I've gone to a website where I thought they might have a solution to a problem I'm having (specific) or a need I have (again, specific) and seen a lot of vague bullshit that left me wondering, or unable to determine exactly what it is they do.

I'm not sure is useful for web2.0 companies. Websites, are different. The most important thing I've learned (from the YC community) about startups is: Pick an important problem to solve. Build the bare-minimum solution to that problem and get feedback. Improve iteratively.

Startups are forced to grow at a rapid pace. Why? Because web2.0 companies need a large number of users before they can monetize. The only way to grow rapidly is to send a clear message. You go to reddit, and bam, you're using reddit. So, the product has to be the message.

Hard selling your customers is something you resort to when you're in an over sold market. I'm not sure how that would apply to a startup at all, being as your goal is to come up with the next big idea, not rebrand the same old thing without any innovation or unique twist. You know the only major retailer that still does this? Radioshack... ideas why? Nothing new or unique to offer and not enough volume to offer prices low enough to keep customers coming back.

Congratulations, you just annoyed your customer when all they were looking for was a simple business card.