Most vendors of enterprise social software have sales pitches that are basically BS. Based on my experience, I explain what is going through the vendors' heads, and then I go through what you're supposed to do if you want to build an actually profitable company. Presented at EnterpriseCamp, Toronto, May 29, 2007.

1. If you build it… they won’t come Achieving Adoption

2. If you build it, they will come Pitch The community will “just happen”.

3. If you build it, they will come Vendor belief Sell the customer, then abandon the customer.

4. If you build it, they will come Vendor belief Renewals happen automagically aka “Free money!”

5. If you build it, they will come Truth Nobody $%!#ing cares about you.

6. If you build it, they will come Truth Customers keep paying only for what they use.

10. Shiny! Pitch Look at our shiny new feature!

11. Shiny! Vendor belief More shiny features = More buzz! More features = More sales

12. Shiny! Truth Early stage Shininess attracts early adopters * who help you refine your product. * Your friends and their friends

13. Shiny! Truth You can’t sell on features alone. (The feature treadmill is price war with escalating dev costs => Bankruptcy)

14. Shiny! Truth Later stage Reference customers * who actually use and love your business create traction . * Your customers and their friends

15. Shiny! Truth Customers who buy on the whole customer experience see your value , and stick! => Success!

18. I am not a number Pitch We have great customer support!

19. I am not a number Vendor belief We have customer support! outsourced automated unskilled cheap

20. I am not a number Truth Customers that complain are customers that care .

23. Our customers love us Pitch Our customers love us. We have great testimonials!

24. Our customers love us Vendor belief Customer testimonials are just marketing collateral. (Look how awesome I am!)

25. Our customers love us Truth Customers love referring you because it makes them look smart.

26. Our customers love us Truth Love is a two way street.