When Kathy Sierra and her husband were laid off during the dot-com crash of 2001, the tech engineers pulled a U-turn and decided to become authors…for money. Hilarious, right? Wrong. The Sierras brought a decidedly analytic approach to the artistic endeavor of writing a book. They looked for a formula that would guarantee sustained, sizeable income even though they had no marketing budget, no particular talent and no celebrity. In an effort to reverse engineer a bestselling book, they asked the question: What has to happen for a book to peak on the desirability scale? Are readers passionate about the book or the author?
Surprisingly, the answer is neither. People ultimately buy books—or any product or service—not because of the author, brand or even product itself, but rather because of what it does for them. People want to be awesome at what they love, and they become passionate about products or brands that make them feel that way.
It’s not enough to have a hip brand or the latest product if you don’t create a connected experience for your clients. People buy things that on a base level they identify with. Apple users feel…well, cool carrying an iPhone. And, Droid users feel smart that they aren’t carrying an iPhone. It’s like the old bumper sticker: I’d rather push a Chevy than drive a Ford. That kind of loyalty doesn’t happen by accident.
We have always aimed at being both inspirational and instructional in all of our books—with the hope that our readers will be motivated and educated to go be amazing at what they love! Inspiration without instruction doesn’t lead to great results. Instruction without inspiration rarely gets off the ground. We design our products with a purpose—awesome results for the user. So, when we sat down to design KellerINK.com, Kathy Sierra’s video (below) provided several AHAs.
Hopefully, you’ll notice KellerINK doesn’t have a lot in common with most ecommerce sites. There isn’t a giant shot of the authors smugly greeting you on the homepage. Our product shots feature people interacting with our books. We made a conscious effort to be inviting, authentic and be clear that it’s not about us or our products but about our customers’ experience.
Gary discovered early in his career that if he could design his business around the success of his employees, his partners and their clients, his own success would take care of itself. “I realized early on that I didn’t need to worry about whether they did business with me or not,” he said in a recent interview in Selling Power magazine. “I needed to help them make a good decision.”
We hope you enjoy our new site. Please feel free to watch Kathy Sierra’s insightful presentation, and then ask yourself: How does my product or service make people feel? And, what can I do differently to ensure the experience makes them feel so awesome they’ll just have to share it with friends?
