Imapenguin Blog

People communicate best via dialog. It makes sense that documentation should be in dialog form.

Some of the greatest tech books out there are the sort where you learn about the system by building an actual example in the first few chapters. Then you explore various implications of changes for customization, security, and performance in the later chapters. A great example of dialog based books that do this well is Pragmatic Rails Book.

In a time when marketers are struggling to find ways to get people to pay attention for a few seconds, it seems to me that creating outstanding documentation materials might be a far better use of the budget than spending it on marketing.

The best way to make a sale is by having systems, products, services … whatever that is so good that people feel like they need to tell their friends. Users that love your system need documents that show them through real examples how to use it well.

Besides reading a story is much more interesting than a glorified API.

Not just a bad question, a dumb question. It shows the customer you didn’t take the time to do some research. It also doesn’t start you on the path to solving anything and makes the customer immediately go on the defensive. It is possible, maybe even probable that the person you are talking to was the person who decided on the solution you are selling against.

Show some value.

Start with an opening question that gets the customer to comment on a pain point that you specialize in solving.

Example:

Say you sell Web Filtering. Compare these two openings:

“What are you currently using for web filtering? Oh, can I give you a quote on a competing product?”

“What would happen if I installed a web monitor on your network, let it collect data for a week, and then showed the report on the evening news?”

The later clearly engages the customer in a smart conversation, the former makes you look like the monkey salesman that you are.

Not just a bad question, a dumb question. It shows the customer you didn’t take the time to do some research. It also doesn’t start you on the path to solving anything and makes the customer immediately go on the defensive. It is possible, maybe even probable that the person you are talking to was the person who decided on the solution you are selling against.

Show some value.

Start with an opening question that gets the customer to comment on a pain point that you specialize in solving.

Example:

Say you sell Web Filtering. Compare these two openings:

“What are you currently using for web filtering? Oh, can I give you a quote on a competing product?”

“What would happen if I installed a web monitor on your network, let it collect data for a week, and then showed the report on the evening news?”

The later clearly engages the customer in a smart conversation, the former makes you look like the monkey salesman that you are.

Not just a bad question, a dumb question. It shows the customer you didn’t take the time to do some research. It also doesn’t start you on the path to solving anything and makes the customer immediately go on the defensive. It is possible, maybe even probable that the person you are talking to was the person who decided on the solution you are selling against.

Show some value.

Start with an opening question that gets the customer to comment on a pain point that you specialize in solving.

Example:

Say you sell Web Filtering. Compare these two openings:

“What are you currently using for web filtering? Oh, can I give you a quote on a competing product?”

“What would happen if I installed a web monitor on your network, let it collect data for a week, and then showed the report on the evening news?”

The later clearly engages the customer in a smart conversation, the former makes you look like the monkey salesman that you are.

So I’ve been enjoying some of the new syncing features of today’s release of iTunes 7.

That is of course until this started happening:

Ek.

“After months and months of deliciously teasing screenshots, the real deal is now out for the world to see. The official Ruby language website has been redesigned. And what a wonderful design it is. Congratulations to the visual identity team and the contributors. It’s truly a work to be proud of.”

(Via Riding Rails.)