How to describe your product (quickly)

A Harvard MBA overthinks infomercials

Pre-order my book, The Power of PULL - it’s coming out July 7!

This week’s podcast:

Chesterton’s Fence: If you come across a fence in a field, and you don’t see a reason for the fence to exist, should you tear it down? No! Just because you don’t know the fence’s purpose doesn’t mean it is purposeless. It’s more likely that the fence’s purpose is invisible to you right now.

Some art forms evolve. People have, over years or even centuries, iteratively developed a method for producing something. The method might look irrational to us from the outside, and the artists themselves might not be able to explain why it works, but it works. Their methods have encoded wisdom from countless loops of trial-and-error. When we try to first-principles a “better” approach, it leads to something that makes more sense, but rarely works - Chesterton’s Fence.

My personal vendetta: This happened in residential homebuilding. If you look at the average home in New England built before 1900, it is magical and makes you feel alive. If you look at the average home in New England built after 1950, it makes you hate yourself and everyone else. (Now with grey flooring!) The original, long-evolved homebuilding process was replaced by a more rational, scientific process sometime in the last century. The new process probably makes more sense than the old one did, it’s just incapable of making a nice home.

All this to say: We can learn interesting things by studying art forms that have evolved to work over long periods of iteration - if these art forms have been spared from intervention from professional managers, academics, and consultants.

The humble infomercial is, I believe, one such art form.¹ It is too lowbrow for us vest-wearing MBAs, so it has evolved in isolation, just based on what works, not what sounds right.

I have watched too many infomercials. Maybe all of the infomercials. I find them interesting because they have evolved a way to:

1. Describe and demonstrate a product

2. Convey who it is for and why they might want it

…all in the span of 10-30 seconds.

This might seem simple. But it is monstrously difficult.

Where do you start? What do you say next? What exact words should you use so they “get it”? What words should you avoid? How do you make the whole thing coherent? Of all possible permutations, which will sell, and which will sell best?

My favorite infomercial is HERE, for a contraption called the Turbo Pump. I like it because think it gives the purest gestalt of the art form.

Let’s walk through it together.

Part 1: PULL

0:00 - 0:05. Oh, that heavy gas can! It never works for filling because it’s always spilling!

You might, at first glance, label this as a “pain point” or a “problem” - but that’s not precise enough.

• A pain point: Gas cans hurt your back.

• A problem: Gas cans are heavy.

Problems and pain points are mostly static. They do not convey the buyer’s attempted action, what the buyer is trying to accomplish. Look at the quote again, and you see PULL, not just pain points/problems:

• P+U: Whenever you are trying to fill something (like a lawnmower) with gas in your garage…

• L+L: …your existing supply (pouring directly from a gas can) is heavy and spills everywhere, which prevents you from filling the thing you’re trying to fill.

In five seconds, it sets the context for the entire rest of the commercial.

Part 2: Supply that fits PULL

0:05 - 0:10. Not anymore - Introducing Turbo Pump, the automatic, cordless, powered liquid transfer pump!

PULL defines the space for supply:

From “The Physics of The Supply Side”

If you are trying to accomplish X right now but are blocked for Y reason, we just need to describe our product as a thing that allows you to accomplish X without Y!

In 10 words, team Turbo Pump does this:

• It is called the Turbo Pump (product name)

• It is a liquid transfer pump (product category)

• It is automatic, cordless, and powered (aka: it helps you transfer liquid successfully without the limitations of your existing supply, pouring from the gas can)

Now, a dumb question: Why didn’t they just start here? Why did they start with PULL?

Imagine someone walks up to you and says: “Rob, I want to introduce you to the Turbo Pump, the automatic, cordless, powered liquid transfer pump.” Here’s what happens in your brain:

1. You struggle to understand what this is. You hear the words and understand each word individually, but the whole sentence isn’t coherent. What is it? Where would I use it? In my kitchen? My backyard? Why would I want it? Who even transfers liquids?

2. You say, “Also, my name’s not Rob.”

We HAVE to start with PULL, because PULL meets them in their exact situation and helps prepare them to understand supply. After we’ve described PULL, supply has a chance of making sense. Before then, it has virtually no chance of making sense.

The first 10 seconds of basically every infomercial follow this exact pattern → PULL, then “supply that fits PULL.”

Part 3: How it fits PULL

0:10 - 0:16. Watch: Just secure the hands-free clip and switch it on to transfer gas, water, oil, and other liquids quickly and easily.

Once PULL is articulated and supply is named, I form a question in my mind: “Ok, but how does it work?”

This is a confusing question, because “how does it work?” can mean a lot of things:

• “What are the different components of the product, and how do they fit together?”

• “How does this product work technically?”

• “What is the unique mechanism that makes this product function?”

But I’m not asking these questions. I am asking the question, “How does this enable me to transfer liquids without the hassle and spillage of a gas can?”

In other words, “How does it work” = “How does this fit my PULL?” = “How do you help me accomplish X without Y?”

In the Turbo Pump commercial, they convey this by showing the process of using the product: “See, here’s how it transfers liquid easily without spilling.”

But that’s not always the right answer: In the Breathe Easy Humidifier infomercial, for example, they are selling a humidifier that replaces your existing humidifier - you know the process of using a humidifier. Here, they focus less on the process of using a humidifier, and exclusively on comparing and contrasting relevant features between the Breathe Easy and a traditional humidifier.

—

Sixteen seconds into the Turbo Pump commercial, I get it. The rest of the two minutes attacks objections, tries to jog my memory of all the times I have PULL, and tries to push me to take action:

• Objections:

  • “But won’t this spill too?” - auto-stop sensor

  • “But doesn’t this take a while to fill?” - nope, drains a gallon in 20 seconds

• Other times I have this PULL:

  • Wiper fluid, radiator fluid, snowblowers, trimmers, car running out of gas, generator, boat, clogged sinks, fish tanks, hot tubs, clogged washing machines, siphoning, winterizing motorcycles

• Push me to act:

  • Free shipping, money-back guarantee, second Turbo Pump

But I want to pick up one special moment a little later in the commercial, because I think this is actually a common pattern too.

Part 4: The Unique Supply-Side Mechanism

0:30 - 0:35. The secret is the Turbo Syphon technology, that pumps any liquid down to the last drop!

Ok - here we are getting something interesting. This is the unique technology behind the Turbo Pump that makes it work.

It’s called Turbo Syphon technology and… how exactly does it work? Do they actually explain it? Nope. They just say “it pumps any liquid down to the last drop.” Which explains literally nothing about the technology itself… just what the technology enables as it relates to your PULL.

The startup antipattern

We founders tend to describe our products from the exact opposite direction - which is why nobody understands us.

Here’s how to describe our products so that people understand us:

(I say Step 4: Unique Tech is optional because the fastest-growing AI companies I’ve seen have not even needed this in their pitches.)

In contrast, here’s how most startups describe their products:

Our pitches are massive, broad, future-oriented, and deeply technical. All things that sound impressive to us, but confuse the crap out of would-be customers who are trying to accomplish something right now.

Instead, the art of describing our product is to define the thing that fits their PULL right now - with the fewest words, concepts, and visuals, so they understand that it fits, and don’t have to think very hard in order to say “yes” and buy.

The startups that grow very fast say very few words about their product, and demo very little. They just say the right words and demo the right things - things that fit the buyer’s PULL.

You don’t get points for extra words or fancy technologies. You only get points for fitting PULL.

BTW - anyone want a turbo pump? I have 17 spare ones in my garage.

Work with me!

If you want my help finding PMF - specifically reviewing your sales calls, and helping you fix your targeting and pitch - grab time with me here and see more detail + testimonials here!

1. I actually don’t know for sure if this is true, but it feels true, so I’m rolling with it.