Post on 02-Jun-2022
How Honestymakes money.
Jason Cohen
Founder, CTO WP Engine
@asmartbear
Naked Business
Republic of Cuba
People’s Republic of China
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Democratic People’s Republicof Korea
Social μ©l<ing Media
Oh pray tell, what is the secret?
— Gary Vaynerchuk
“Honesty has to become
a critical policy for every
company on Earth.”
Sentiment on @garyvee
Sentiment on @garyvee
9%
negative
91%
positive
@garyvee is perfect?
nothing
negative
all
positive
@asmartbear is perfect?
What about the
celebs?
Joel Spolsky
Jason Fried
Gary Vaynerchuk
James Altucher
Seth Godin
“100% Positive”
The language of North Korea.
And Twitter.
And business.
Uncensored Reviews
Giving voice to the opposition
— David Leite, Liete’s Culinaria
about WP Engine
“They solved problems
[others] couldn’t &
made my site faster and
more profitable. Total
crush!”
Pros:
I didn’t hang myself after using it.
Cons:
This was the worst pile of junk I have ever received
... I would put a pipe bomb in it ...
... please hit yourself in the face with a meat mallet as
that will be a more enjoyable experience.
Canon’s Experiment
Revenue
Before After
Sales
high-rating low-rating
Revenue
Before After
Sales
high-rating low-rating
Revenue
Before After
Sales
high-rating low-rating
Expectations
I’m OK with that
Profits
Before After
Sales
high-rating low-rating
Profits
Before After
Sales
high-rating low-rating
Returns ↓ 20%
Real cost of a return
$10
$100 Sale
$—90
Return Next 10
$10
Fluke?
“No,”
say 500 BazarreVoice customers:
Best Buy, Dell, Costco, Petco, Macy's, Rubbermaid, ...
Truth in Advertising
Competitive “Analysis”
“webMethods (Nasdaq: WEBM) provides
business integration software to integrate,
assemble and optimize available IT assets
to drive business process productivity.
webMethods delivers an innovative,
enterprise-class business integration
platform that incorporates proven
integration technology with next
generation capabilities into one
interoperable set of tools that delivers a
unique combination of efficiency, agility
and control. webMethods combines
industry leadership with a zealous
commitment to customers to deliver
tangible business value.”
d
“I know, it sounds iffy: how can a small team create,
test, maintain, market, sell, and support a software
company?
Well, that remains to be seen.”
Balsamiq Revenue
Proactive Honesty
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
WP Engine Short-Term Cancels
1h 12h
Proactive Honesty
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
Copy Peldi?
Copy Peldi?
Copy the inspiration,
not the content.
WP Engine — 2010
WP Engine — 2017
WP Engine — 2017
WP Engine — 2017
Bank of Ireland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnm42R374sE
Presentation
vs
Omission
How to get dates
© OkCupid
Honest Presentation
for Companies
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
Overcoming
Startup Objections
Too small. Go out of business. Too buggy.
No 24/7 support. No experience.
Insecure. No track record. Not enough customers.
Too transparent. Not transparent enough.
“No 24/7 Support.”
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
“I don’t want to be
your biggest
customer.”
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
The “Enterprise”
sales call
truth in limitations
earns
believability in advantages
Universal?
modern marketing
mass-market big-brand consumer
low-end bootstrapped startup
enterprise sales calls
high-end hosting company
do-good business
200 interviews
— Howard Stern
“My idea was be as real
and honest as possible.”
“Be honest” is
everywhere...
...and yet rare.
Talking instead of doing
nothing
negative
all
positive
So,
what are you going to
do
?