Whether you're selling information or software products, or tech consulting services, the only thing that matters to your customers is the fact that you can fix their problem. Your customers are selfish. They only care about themselves.
Why is it then so many businesses insist on telling prospective clients about themselves? Why do businesses confront customers with a boring wall of text about themselves and their company in their online presence? Why is it that some go so far as to have it front and centre on their websites? I'll tell you why. It's because they're selfish. Just like the customers they're trying to attract, they care more about themselves and their company than anyone else. Just like you, everyone around you is thinking of themselves first and foremost. Selfishness is quality everyone possesses and if you want to effectively sell to those people then you should take advantage of it rather than limit your success because of it.
What nobody cares about
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When your company was founded. Do you know and/or care when Amazon or Ebay were founded? No.
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By whom your company was founded unless you are famous or very well known in some way. Do you know and/or care who founded Symantec or whatever other anti-virus solution you use? No.
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How many offices you have or where they are, unless of course you’re running bricks and mortar shop fronts. Do you know how many offices Adobe have or where they’re located? No.
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Who your customers are or how much those customers are worth. You have fortune 500 companies as customers? So what?
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How much your company has grown in the last 5 years or by how much you project it to grow in the next 5.
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Your previous companies or partnerships. Yawn!
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Your hobbies. Seriously, who TF cares?
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Your philanthropy, volunteer or charity work (as honourable as it may be).
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Where you went to school (university, whatever), the marks you received or when you graduated. Hell, no one even wants to know if you’re self taught.
Whilst not excusing the examples given above, I will concede that most ordinary people will at least understand the information presented. But, what if you are really, really determined to make your potential customers eyes glaze over and tell them things that they no only don’t care about, but potentially don’t even understand? Well, here’s a few common ones:
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Technology, ugh. Nobody cares about your technological skills or indeed the hidden, obscure technology suite that drives or enables your product. Unless those facts make or break your product for your customer, they will not care!
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Meaningless names of, or types of systems you’ve built in the past.
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Your development philosophy or your advocacy for whatever system, platform, architecture or programming languages you have a bias for.
What everybody cares about (to name but a few)
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Getting their problems fixed and sorted.
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Streamlining and automating processes for efficiency gains and reduced costs.
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Higher product/service turnover.
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Greater customer satisfaction.
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Larger profits.
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More meaningful business, market and customer intelligence.
Tell them you’re going to solve their problems (aka What’s in it for me?)
Your prospective customers want to know how much better their lives will be by using your product. They want to know the benefits of using your product. They are looking to buy your product.
Nobody, whether browsing your website or enduring a sales or client meeting with you cares about you or your company or the history of either. Your customer is selfish, short of time, and only cares about solving their own problem, so respect their time and don’t waste it by talking about yourself. Don’t drive your customers away with a bland, trivial, self-absorbed wall of text about you or your company. Your customers are selfish, so tell them what they want to hear. Tell them about themselves.