quaquaqua1 5 years ago

A performance difference so drastic in theory should sell itself. Many of the original motorized carriages were sold through the Sears catalog. Others were sold by retailers who would bulk order from the factory and mark it up to the individual who eventually bought it. For those who could afford the investment and risk of learning new technology, the added benefits of motorized carriages were 10x better than carriages pulled by a horse (for those who needed to travel say 35 miles and not just 8 miles).

The real question is how two different companies selling basically the same thing can achieve drastically different results from each other in sales (think about Delta vs United vs American Airlines).

That type of sales is done through big channels and very intimate corporate contracts that are hard for newcomers to crack into (notice there are no new startup airlines out there :D)

  • _448 5 years ago

    > Many of the original motorized carriages were sold through the Sears catalog. Others were sold by retailers who would bulk order from the factory and mark it up to the individual who eventually bought it.

    This is then a classic chicken-and-egg problem. One cannot manufacture something unless there is a demand, and there may not be a demand unless the technology is proven. How does one crack that conundrum?

    • quaquaqua1 5 years ago

      There is a demand in the abstract sense- people want safe, fast, cheap, enjoyable transport.

      Whether that is achieved through a horse or motor isn't important in my opinion.

      You used to use normal phones until you bought a smart phone, surely :)

2vj 5 years ago

Engage by Questioning the Horseman.

Try to find out the pain points, it could be speed, Comfort, safety, feeling privileged or nothing at all. In that case use the gain points which are a plenty.

Try to connect on the right emotion of the horseman. (Fomo could be one)

ian0 5 years ago

Sell to one, whatever it takes. Then publicise the crap out of your first ex-horseman, if the advantages are real the rest will follow.

The key is publicising your user, not your company. Because (1) it benefits them so they will be happy and (2) the rest of your customers care about what peers are doing, not what vendors are providing.

pryelluw 5 years ago

Go read the sales book written by Jordan Belfort (the wolf of wall street). It works very well and its easy to understand.

tmaly 5 years ago

All I can think of is to sell the benefits. See the book Spin Selling