Steve Jobs (6 page)

to know the answer to one question: Why should I care? Let’s

take a closer look at that iMac excerpt. Jobs told the audience,

“what that means is . . .” Jobs connects the dots for his listeners.

Although he might leave the industry in the dark about future

Apple releases, he never leaves his audience guessing when the

product is finally introduced. Why should you care about Apple’s

new computer, MP3 player, phone, or gadget? Don’t worry. Jobs

will tell you.

The Rumors Are True

For years, Apple had a rivalry with Intel—even setting fire to

an Intel bunny man in a 1996 TV spot. One decade later, Apple

put its rivalry to rest and announced that Intel processors would

power its new Macintosh systems, replacing IBM’s PowerPC

chips. On June 6, 2005, Jobs announced the switch at Apple’s

Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Rumors of the switch had been floating around for months,

and many observers expressed concern about the transition.

Reporters for
eWeek
magazine found it difficult to believe Apple would swap the PowerPC for Intel, since the PowerPC had

worked well for the brand. Developers were grumbling. Jobs had

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MAT TERS MOST
17

to convince the audience that the switch was the right thing

to do. His presentation was enormously persuasive in chang-

ing people’s opinions because, using plain and direct language,

he answered the one question that mattered most: Why should

Apple’s customers and developers care?

Yes, it’s true. We are going to begin the transition from

PowerPC to Intel processors. Now, why are we going to do

this? Didn’t we just get through going from OS 9 to OS X?

Isn’t the business great right now? Because we want to make

the best computers for our customers looking forward. Now,

I stood up here two years ago and promised you this [slide

shows desktop computer with 3 GHz], and we haven’t been

able to deliver it to you. I think a lot of you would like a

G5 in your PowerBook, and we haven’t been able to deliver

it. But these aren’t even the most important reasons. As we

look ahead, though we have some great products now, we

can envision some amazing products we want to build for

you, and we don’t know how to build them with the future

PowerPC road map. That’s why we’re going to do this.
2

Jobs articulated the argument so convincingly that few

people in the audience that day left without a high degree of

confidence that the transition had been the right thing for

Apple, its developers, and its customers.

Why Should I Care?

During the planning phase of your presentation, always remem-

ber that it’s not about you. It’s about them. The listeners in your

audience are asking themselves one question—“Why should I

care?” Answering that one question right out of the gate will

grab people’s attention and keep them engaged.

I was preparing a CEO for a major analyst presentation and

asked how he planned to kick it off. He offered this dry, boring,

and confusing introduction: “Our company is a premier developer

of intelligent semiconductor intellectual property solutions that

dramatically accelerate complex system-on-a-chip designs while

18
CREATE THE STORY

Channel Your Best Steve Jobs Impression

In the summer of 2006, Intel released a processor branded

Core 2 Duo. The “duo” stood for dual-core, meaning there

were two cores, or brains, on each microprocessor. That may

not sound exciting, but if you answer the one question that

matters—Why should I care?—it becomes very interesting.

Take two scenarios: In both scenarios, a customer walks

into a computer store and asks the salesperson for information

about notebook computers. The sales professional in the first

scenario has not read this book and fails to answer the one

question that matters. The salesperson in the second scenario

is more likely to win the sale, by virtue of channeling his or her

inner Steve Jobs and answering the one question on the mind

of the customer: Why should I care?

Scenario One

CUSTOMER: Hi, I’m looking for a notebook computer that is

light and fast and includes a DVD.

SALESPERSON: You should look for an Intel Core 2 Duo.

CUSTOMER: OK. I didn’t know Intel makes computers.

SALESPERSON: They don’t.

CUSTOMER: Can you tell me more?

SALESPERSON: An Intel dual-core processor has two perfor-

mance engines that simultaneously process data at a

faster rate.

CUSTOMER: Oh. Maybe I should look somewhere else.

Of course the customer in this scenario will look some-

where else. Although the salesperson was technically accurate,

the customer had to work far too hard to figure out how the

new system would make the person’s life better. It took too

much brainpower, and as you’ll learn, the brain is a lazy piece

of meat that tries to preserve energy. Make the brain work

too hard, and you’ll lose your audience. The customer had

one question in mind and one question only. The salesperson

failed to answer it and seemed indifferent, even arrogant. Let’s

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MAT TERS MOST
19

try it again. This time, the salesperson will do a stellar Steve

Jobs impression.

Scenario Two

SALESPERSON: Hi, can I help you find something?

CUSTOMER: Sure. I’m looking for a notebook computer. One

that is light and fast and includes a DVD.

SALESPERSON: You’ve come to the right place. We have a

huge selection of small notebooks that are blazingly

fast. Have you considered a system with an Intel Core 2

Duo?

CUSTOMER: Not really. What’s that?

SALESPERSON: Think of the microprocessor as the brain of

your computer. Now, with these Intel chips, you get two

brains in one computer. What that means to you is that

you can do a lot of fun and productive stuff at the same

time. For example, you can download music while your

computer is running a full virus scan in the background,

and it won’t slow down the system at all. Your produc-

tivity applications will load much faster, you can work

on multiple documents at the same time, your DVDs

will play much better, and you get much longer bat-

tery life on top of it! And that’s not all: the displays are

gorgeous.

CUSTOMER: Great. Please show me those computers!

In this scenario, the salesperson spoke in plain English,

used tangible examples to make the product relevant, and

answered the only question that really mattered to the cus-

tomer: Why should I care about the processor? Retailers who

train their sales staffs to describe products in this way will

stand out from the competition. Come to think of it, there is

a retailer that does exactly that—Apple. Walk into most any

Apple store, and you will be greeted by enthusiastic men and

women who are eager to explain how Apple products will

make your life better.

20
CREATE THE STORY

minimizing risk.” I was dumbfounded and suggested he take a

page from the Steve Jobs playbook, eliminating all of the buzz-

words such as
intelligent
and
solutions
and simply answering one question: Why should your customers care about your product?

The CEO revised his introduction. He decided to walk

onstage and ask everyone to take out his or her cell phone. He

said, “Our company creates software that is used to build the

chips inside many of the phones you’re holding up. As those

chips get smaller and cheaper, your phones will get smaller, last

longer on a single charge, and play music and video, all thanks

to our technology working behind the scenes.”

Which introduction would be more effective in grabbing

your attention? The second one, of course. It is free of jargon and, by answering the
one
question that matters, gives the audience a reason to listen.

Reporters are skilled at answering the one question for their

readers. Pay attention to product descriptions in the
New York

Times
or
USA Today
. Articles are written to be followed and understood. For example, on January 20, 2009, Cisco Systems

announced that it planned a big push into the server market, a

category dominated by IBM, HP, and Dell. The product would

be a server with virtualization software. Now, virtualization is

one of the most complicated concepts to explain. Wikipedia

defines server virtualization as “a method of partitioning a

physical server computer into multiple servers such that each

has the appearance and capabilities of running on its own ded-

icated machine.
”3
Got it? Didn’t think so. The
New York Times
’

Ashlee Vance took a different approach: “Virtualization prod-

ucts let companies run numerous business applications, rather

than just one, on each physical server, allowing them to save

electricity and get more out of their hardware purchases.
”4

The difference, of course, is that Vance answered the one

question on the minds of her readers—What does “virtualiza-

tion” mean to me? In this case, she identified her audience as

investors, IT decision makers, and business leaders who would

care about such things.

ANSWER THE ONE QUESTION THAT MAT TERS MOST
21

Your listeners are asking themselves, “Why should I care?” If

your product will help your customers make money, tell them. If

it helps them save money, tell them. If it makes it easier or more

enjoyable for them to perform a particular task, tell them. Tell

them early, often, and clearly. Jobs doesn’t leave people guessing.

Well before he explains the technology behind a new product or

feature, he explains how it will improve the experience people

have with their computers, music players, or gadgets.

Table 2.1 offers a review of some other examples of how Jobs

sells the benefit behind a new product or feature.

TABLE 2.1
JOBS SELLING THE BENEFIT

DATE/PRODUCT

BENEFIT

January 7, 2003

“Using Keynote is like having a professional

Keynote presentation

graphics department to create your slides.

software

This is the application to use when your

presentation really counts.
”5

September 12, 2006

“The all-new iPod nano gives music fans

iPod nano

more of what they love in their iPods—twice

the storage capacity at the same price, an

incredible twenty-four-hour battery life, and

a gorgeous aluminum design in five brilliant

colors.
”6

January 15, 2008

“With Time Capsule, all your irreplaceable

Time Capsule backup

photos, movies, and documents are

service for Macs running

automatically protected and incredibly easy

Leopard OS

to retrieve if they are ever lost.
”7

June 9, 2008

“Just one year after launching the iPhone,

iPhone 3G

we’re launching the new iPhone 3G. It’s twice

as fast at half the price.”
8

September 9, 2008