In the startup journey one of the hardest and by far the most critical things is to get sales for the company. Sales is what finally drives the engine and brings the income that is required to prove that the business being pursued, is worth being pursued.
When a startup embarks on sales, it is important to be focused on how they go about the process. They need to be able to describe their dream customers who would not have any hesitation in purchasing the product or service that they are looking to sell. Once this ideal customer is defined, it is very important to go ‘Narrow’ and ‘Deep’. Addressing a specific customer is easier than addressing a mass market with a wide variety of customers who have a variety of needs to be addressed.
The temptation at the beginning is to start selling the product or service to the entire market. There is no surer way of failing. I wrote a post about this earlier here.
A startup thrives on building relationships. Early customers of the company not only patronise the startup but also provide a great deal of feedback to improve the product to better meet customer requirements. These individuals also play the part of marketers on behalf of the startups. It is hence extremely important to cultivate a great relationship with these customers.
When you feel personally invested in something, you want to see it succeed. You want your customer to be in this position. This is precisely the reason you need a very specific customer with whom you can have one shared interest – your business.
Going narrow allows the startup to focus on the individuals who best suite the dream customer profile and makes sure that the conversion can be quickly achieved. Going deep allows for a lot of feedback to filter through as well as enables strong relationships which the business can depend on. Such customers would not abandon the startup to move to another (let us say a competitor) very easily.
All of this put together makes it possible to truly delight your customers.
Marketing is broad and shallow, it tries to address the mass. As a consequence it does not enable relationship building, which is very critical for a startup. Also, the cost of marketing tends to be much higher and the returns on the same much lower than selling directly to a specific customer.
Sales is about relationships and even if you are a larger entity, the relationships need to be nurtured and grown. A larger entity needs to look at sales like a long distance relationship. You might not be able to meet or spend as much time, as regularly. Nevertheless, you can always keep the channels of communication open and communicate regularly.
When engaging in sales, it is also very important to look at the product or service from the perspective of the customer who is being sold to. Most often one of the biggest mistake that most entrepreneurs make is to try and enforce their perspective on the customer rather than, get around to seeing the customer’s perspective.
If you look at the image above; at first sight, it seems like the image is one, of an old man. But a closer look makes it clear that there are two different people, one old man and a woman. Similarly what your customer sees or what you see might not be the same. Hence it is important to look at the frame of reference of the other person in order to convince them. This is easy, again, if a narrow and deep approach is taken.
Fundamentally, sales is a reflection of how well you understand the customer you are targeting. By going after a narrow subset of customers, startups can ensure that they know their customers well. When you know your customer well, your ability to see their perspective deepens and you are well positioned to close the sale.
When a startup embarks on sales, it is important to be focused on how they go about the process. They need to be able to describe their dream customers who would not have any hesitation in purchasing the product or service that they are looking to sell. Once this ideal customer is defined, it is very important to go ‘Narrow’ and ‘Deep’. Addressing a specific customer is easier than addressing a mass market with a wide variety of customers who have a variety of needs to be addressed.
The temptation at the beginning is to start selling the product or service to the entire market. There is no surer way of failing. I wrote a post about this earlier here.
A startup thrives on building relationships. Early customers of the company not only patronise the startup but also provide a great deal of feedback to improve the product to better meet customer requirements. These individuals also play the part of marketers on behalf of the startups. It is hence extremely important to cultivate a great relationship with these customers.
When you feel personally invested in something, you want to see it succeed. You want your customer to be in this position. This is precisely the reason you need a very specific customer with whom you can have one shared interest – your business.
Going narrow allows the startup to focus on the individuals who best suite the dream customer profile and makes sure that the conversion can be quickly achieved. Going deep allows for a lot of feedback to filter through as well as enables strong relationships which the business can depend on. Such customers would not abandon the startup to move to another (let us say a competitor) very easily.
All of this put together makes it possible to truly delight your customers.
Marketing is broad and shallow, it tries to address the mass. As a consequence it does not enable relationship building, which is very critical for a startup. Also, the cost of marketing tends to be much higher and the returns on the same much lower than selling directly to a specific customer.
Sales is about relationships and even if you are a larger entity, the relationships need to be nurtured and grown. A larger entity needs to look at sales like a long distance relationship. You might not be able to meet or spend as much time, as regularly. Nevertheless, you can always keep the channels of communication open and communicate regularly.
When engaging in sales, it is also very important to look at the product or service from the perspective of the customer who is being sold to. Most often one of the biggest mistake that most entrepreneurs make is to try and enforce their perspective on the customer rather than, get around to seeing the customer’s perspective.
If you look at the image above; at first sight, it seems like the image is one, of an old man. But a closer look makes it clear that there are two different people, one old man and a woman. Similarly what your customer sees or what you see might not be the same. Hence it is important to look at the frame of reference of the other person in order to convince them. This is easy, again, if a narrow and deep approach is taken.
Fundamentally, sales is a reflection of how well you understand the customer you are targeting. By going after a narrow subset of customers, startups can ensure that they know their customers well. When you know your customer well, your ability to see their perspective deepens and you are well positioned to close the sale.
