Box

I have talked about not selling boxes (or "catch all" products) but instead selling solutions. I like to refer to selling solutions as problem-based selling because it requires us to solve a problem instead of calling our "box" a solution.

But, the first question is, "What is a box?"

Well, I don't think that a box is related to any one, specific industry. I think of a box as just about any commoditized product. It could be as un-technologically advanced as a toothbrush (although with the advertising, you'd think that all toothbrushes are "space age" technology, but I'll save that for another rant.) A box can be as technologically advanced as a server, MRI machine or jet. The box is simply anything that someone tries to sell as a fix-all or catch-all product for a given situation.

In my industry, the box tends to be a copier or printer. The company selling the product will advertise that they "have recently purchased a large number of 50 page per minute copiers and we're passing the savings on to you." Well, what if you need a 40 page per minute device or a 60 page per minute device? "That doesn't matter, we have this one "catch-all" product and we going to sell you this one box. Period." continue reading...