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March 30, 2026 · Louie Bernstein
A good product can kill your sales - No kidding
Strategysales process
We had a great product.
And it killed our sales.
In 1981 I got my first computer sales job at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). We had some of the best, most highly-engineered products.
Our CEO and founder, Ken Olsen, built a great company. MIT trained engineer. But Ken was an engineer first.
He thought that by giving enough engineering handbooks to enough engineers, the products would sell themselves.
BTW - He also thought paying a sales commission for that was bad and unnecessary.
This worked well until the IBM PC came out, and computers in general were beginning to perform so non-engineers could approach and use them.
Sales fell.
Layoffs came.
We fell behind and got acquired.
What I learned from this experience, and what really applies to today’s sellers, is people don’t want to have to figure it out. They want to know why they'll be better off in 3, 6 or 12 months after they buy your product. 🎯
Over the years, I've seen hundreds of fantastic products end up as a roadkill. Because they assumed people knew enough to know how good their products were.
Your job as a founder or salesperson is to paint the picture of a life or career that will be better off (and free from risk) after purchasing from you. Not hoping they just figure it out.
Is your company assuming your prospects just “get it”?
I wish I could have gotten Ken Olsen on board with this approach:
https://lnkd.in/emHgXFkU
And it killed our sales.
In 1981 I got my first computer sales job at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). We had some of the best, most highly-engineered products.
Our CEO and founder, Ken Olsen, built a great company. MIT trained engineer. But Ken was an engineer first.
He thought that by giving enough engineering handbooks to enough engineers, the products would sell themselves.
BTW - He also thought paying a sales commission for that was bad and unnecessary.
This worked well until the IBM PC came out, and computers in general were beginning to perform so non-engineers could approach and use them.
Sales fell.
Layoffs came.
We fell behind and got acquired.
What I learned from this experience, and what really applies to today’s sellers, is people don’t want to have to figure it out. They want to know why they'll be better off in 3, 6 or 12 months after they buy your product. 🎯
Over the years, I've seen hundreds of fantastic products end up as a roadkill. Because they assumed people knew enough to know how good their products were.
Your job as a founder or salesperson is to paint the picture of a life or career that will be better off (and free from risk) after purchasing from you. Not hoping they just figure it out.
Is your company assuming your prospects just “get it”?
I wish I could have gotten Ken Olsen on board with this approach:
https://lnkd.in/emHgXFkU