So far we have covered 2 topics "How to pick the right Startup idea " and "How to validate your idea" and in this lesson, I will be covering
Most founders start selling their products only after they built it. The right way to do is "Sell before you build". This way you would build the right product that people want to buy. Imagine writing a book that no one would read. It's not fun right. Creating a product that no one buys is also not fun.
Ok... if I did not create the product what will I go and tell the customer. Here is one pitch that always works.
After understanding the requirements from your customer interviews propose a solution to the customer in simpler words - "focus on customer benefits". Let's take an example the biggest challenge in e-commerce is to increase the conversion percentages. Purchase Conversion percentage is no of people buying your product out of every 100 people who visit your site. If your solution can increase this conversion percentage focus on that. Tell by how much. Create curiosity. Then the customer follows up with questions, just answer his/her questions.
If your solution solves customer pain and is valuable you can propose a deal even without the demo. Tell that you want the customer to be a design partner in your solution for which you would offer them a lifetime discount of X%. Also, tell them that your team would closely work with them to give them the best solution. Remove all the doubts the customer might have. Sometimes you might have to overstep your responsibilities to get the client on board. Why do we do this - Its because once we acquire a customer they are with us for a lifetime. At least that's what we desire. In one of my friend's company they were helping with school automation but in order to get their first sales, they sent their engineers to manually type all the student data in to excel and upload it to their databases. That's how some times things work.
Coming back to acquiring your first customer. Always promise only what you can deliver and ensure the client is happy. Always ask the customer the value they are deriving and if possible quantify it. Your product should not sell because there is one person in that company who likes you it should sell because using your product makes economic and value sense. Even if your start promoter leaves your sales contract lives on. This brings us to the end of the 3 lesson email series. These are the first 3 things you should know to Startup.
"How to get your first customer"
Most founders start selling their products only after they built it. The right way to do is "Sell before you build". This way you would build the right product that people want to buy. Imagine writing a book that no one would read. It's not fun right. Creating a product that no one buys is also not fun.
Ok... if I did not create the product what will I go and tell the customer. Here is one pitch that always works.
After understanding the requirements from your customer interviews propose a solution to the customer in simpler words - "focus on customer benefits". Let's take an example the biggest challenge in e-commerce is to increase the conversion percentages. Purchase Conversion percentage is no of people buying your product out of every 100 people who visit your site. If your solution can increase this conversion percentage focus on that. Tell by how much. Create curiosity. Then the customer follows up with questions, just answer his/her questions.
If your solution solves customer pain and is valuable you can propose a deal even without the demo. Tell that you want the customer to be a design partner in your solution for which you would offer them a lifetime discount of X%. Also, tell them that your team would closely work with them to give them the best solution. Remove all the doubts the customer might have. Sometimes you might have to overstep your responsibilities to get the client on board. Why do we do this - Its because once we acquire a customer they are with us for a lifetime. At least that's what we desire. In one of my friend's company they were helping with school automation but in order to get their first sales, they sent their engineers to manually type all the student data in to excel and upload it to their databases. That's how some times things work.
Coming back to acquiring your first customer. Always promise only what you can deliver and ensure the client is happy. Always ask the customer the value they are deriving and if possible quantify it. Your product should not sell because there is one person in that company who likes you it should sell because using your product makes economic and value sense. Even if your start promoter leaves your sales contract lives on. This brings us to the end of the 3 lesson email series. These are the first 3 things you should know to Startup.
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