Do recipes work for highly complex sales?

Oz wrote in the comments on my post about cookie recipes:

Here’s a question: what about businesses or services that involve technical expertise or specialized equipment? Does is still work if I can say I have 5 recipes but they won’t do the general public any good (and is actually quite boring)? Examples:

I’m just trying to dig deeper into your point. My service is one that my clients tend to not know what I do, and don’t want to know.

Oz’s point is excellent. Sometimes your customers don’t need to know the individual makings of the recipe, or the recipe simply isn’t interesting, although I’d certainly argue that example #2 has some great “recipe-like” examples such as this:

In cases where a recipe isn’t appropriate, you want to look to the Steve Jobs formula: less about what the product is and more about what it can do for you in your life. When the iPad was first debuted, the marketing around it was simple: here are all the ways this magical little device will make your life better. Share photos. Watch movies. Be social.

Compare that to the way Microsoft did its press around its Surface tablet, which was essentially a recipe, as pointed out by Rex Hammock. In this case, Microsoft wrote a recipe for its device that the consumer can’t make, so publishing a recipe was the wrong way to go.

Here’s a good rule of thumb: if the customer can or should make it, publish a recipe. If the customer can only use it, publish examples of how they can use it in their lives. In Oz’s examples above, writing code isn’t a wonderful recipe, but showing how a piece of software will positively impact your life is a good use case. Installing a pool isn’t the compelling part – splashing in it on a hot summer day is.

Thanks for the great comment, Oz!

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