How to Explain Steem and SMTs to Other People - a Few Thoughts on “Selling” the SMT Idea

Even if Steem and/or an SMT can solve a problem, you still need to sell the idea to other people.

This is the largest barrier to steem’s success. Helping other people to learn about these concepts, and helping them to become so comfortable that they are willing to risk the financial livelihood of their business on the idea, is a huge task.

The Secret Weapon

Luckily, we have a secret weapon: The power of the steem blockchain. Anybody who dedicates themselves to learning about and contributing to this community will receive incredible benefits from it - and they are likely to become a steem evangelist over time. But how do you help someone to take that first step?

This post is aimed at steemians who want to reach out to other blogs/businesses/people to try and get them started on steem. It will help teach you to overcome the fear of selling and understand the dynamics of recruiting new talent into our ecosystem.

_{Source: The SMT homepage}

Here are four key points regarding how to explain and “sell” the idea of Steem/SMTs to other people.

(1) You Don’t Have to Convince Somebody in the First Conversation

When you explain steem to somebody for the first time, you aren’t trying to make them think “Wow, this is a great idea!” All you are trying to do is get them interested - the best case scenario is to leave them hungry for information.

Remember that steem and SMTs are big concepts. No smart businessperson will ever let themselves be sold on something so huge in a single conversation.

If you take someone from unawareness to “Yes, we’re going to do it!” in one hour, that’s like moving in with a romantic partner after the first date. You might convince someone to do it - but it will end badly 99% of the time.

Focus on building interest and getting them hungry for more information. Help them understand that this might be a good idea. Take them to “maybe”, not to “yes”, in that first talk.

(2) You don’t need to explain the technical details

_{Source: Pixabay}

It’s very important to understand the mechanics of how SMTs work - but you do not explain that stuff in the first talk.

Again, it’s like going on a date. You might have some serious baggage in your life that you need to reveal before you start a relationship - but why bring it up on the first date? Pitching a business on steem/SMTs works the same way - start with the main concept, get specific later.

Focus on the key elements of steem, or SMTs, that are likely to appeal to them. Based on my recent experience, here are some points to start with:

A: It’s built on the same technology as bitcoin, and the overall cryptocurrency market has a market cap above $50 billion.

B: Several large businesses are transacting with cryptocurrencies in general - most notably, Shopify (the world’s largest ecommerce platform) has built-in bitcoin integration plugins. Recent reports suggest that Amazon will be in this space in the next 6 months.

C: After they understand cryptocurrency in general, give them a cursory overview of the three main steem tokens - steem, SBDs, and Steem Power. Explain that Steem Power is the most valuable, and requires 13 weeks to withdraw - this makes it unlikely for the steem ecosystem to suddenly crash to zero.

D: Lastly, tell them: “There are no advertisers on the service. This currency is not powered with ads - instead, it is powered by the value of the content on the blockchain.”

(3) Avoid Overselling

Don’t say bullshit. It is easy to become really excited about crypto and start feeling like you know what is going to happen. You might be absolutely sure that the market will keep growing, that bitcoin will reach [insert huge valuation here], that steem is going to hit the top 10 in the coin marketplace, etc etc….

BUT YOU NEED TO STICK TO WHAT IS CURRENTLY REAL.

You can’t promise that steem will go up in value. Nobody can. You can’t promise that a business is guaranteed to do great here. You cannot guarantee anything.

Help them understand that this is an opportunity, and if you do it well, you will not need to rely on overconfident BS. You don’t need to guarantee anything. Just be honest - that we think this is a great system, that we are confident it will grow and gain significant market share.

Let them know you are personally investing time/money into the platform, and you have a ton of faith in it. But do not PROMISE, because we cannot predict the future.

For all we know, USA & North Korea will nuke the whole world into oblivion an hour from now. So we can’t be sure of anything, lol. Keep it low-key and you will have better results.

(4) Only Use an SMT if the Steem Token Doesn’t Already Solve The Problem

Whenever you are thinking about launching an SMT… ask one important question.

“Do I need an SMT to solve this problem?”

If the answer is no - it’s a lot simpler to use regular ol’ steems and SBDs. This is something I am thinking about a lot right now.

SMTs are more complicated than using steem directly - it is harder to solve a problem via SMTs as opposed to just using the steem that already exists. Therefore, you only want to use a SMT if you really need it to get the job done.

I’ve had a few conversations with people who want to use SMTs for some vague goal - and they haven’t even read the white paper yet!! That’s crazy!! SMTs aren’t better than steem, they are merely different than steem. Understand what it is before you start getting dollars in your eyes, ok?

Final Thoughts

Please, please, PLEASE don’t pitch SMTs to people before you read the white paper. You are going to get difficult questions and will need to deeply understand this ecosystem if you want to recruit the best talent to the blockchain.

Trust me, you haven’t had your blockchain knowledge tested until you start pitching steem to outsiders. They will ask the hard questions, and you need to be ready. I’ve read most of the foundational material of blockchain - bitcoin whitepaper, Nick Szabo & Vtalik Buterin essays, the steem white paper, developer chats, hard fork info, the SMT white paper, on and on… and even I still have to work really hard to stay informed.

This is not for the faint-hearted. You should be ready for a real serious amount of work if you want to recruit businesses onto our blockchain.

After reading this topic, what questions do you have for me? I’m happy to clarify my ideas or debate SMT philosophy with you - so let’s talk in the comments :-)