Sales is hard because it's less about building and more about listening. You need to figure out what customers actually need and that starts with talking to them directly. Here’s a framework I use, based on the Customer Development Ladder I wrote about in my upcoming book. It breaks down the process of learning about customers into four kinds of interviews. Each interview takes you one step closer to a sales call and the last step invites them into a sales process.
1. Exploratory Customer Development -
Start with broad conversations. Reach out to potential customers and ask them about their world: their challenges, goals, and frustrations. Don’t pitch your idea, just listen. The goal is to uncover problems worth solving.
2. Focused Customer Development -
Once you notice a pattern in the problems people describe, you want to make sure it's shared by a wide subset of customers.
3. Paper Feedback Demo -
Before building anything new, create a low-fidelity prototype (mock-ups, sketches, or slides) of how you might solve the problem. Share it with prospects and get their feedback.
4. Real Feedback Demo -
When you have a working version of your product, test it with those same prospects and ask for feedback. The goal is to see if the thing actually solves their pain. If it does, you can invite them into a sales process. “Looks like it might help, can we set up some time to explore what it would look like to implement at your company?”
This approach isn’t magic but it works. The best part is that it teaches you how to find customers and what messaging will resonate with them. Resources like The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick are great for learning how to have these conversations without bias.
1. Exploratory Customer Development - Start with broad conversations. Reach out to potential customers and ask them about their world: their challenges, goals, and frustrations. Don’t pitch your idea, just listen. The goal is to uncover problems worth solving.
2. Focused Customer Development - Once you notice a pattern in the problems people describe, you want to make sure it's shared by a wide subset of customers.
3. Paper Feedback Demo - Before building anything new, create a low-fidelity prototype (mock-ups, sketches, or slides) of how you might solve the problem. Share it with prospects and get their feedback.
4. Real Feedback Demo - When you have a working version of your product, test it with those same prospects and ask for feedback. The goal is to see if the thing actually solves their pain. If it does, you can invite them into a sales process. “Looks like it might help, can we set up some time to explore what it would look like to implement at your company?”
This approach isn’t magic but it works. The best part is that it teaches you how to find customers and what messaging will resonate with them. Resources like The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick are great for learning how to have these conversations without bias.