Something I don't see enough #SaaS#startups doing during the early days of trying and failing to get their first few customers?
Systematically recording and categorizing their objections as follows...
1. Could I overcome this objection by speaking to someone else at the company?
Even if you've got the right product and you're speaking to the right type of company — speaking to the wrong person can kibosh the whole thing...
2. Could I overcome this objection by speaking to a different type of company? (size, industry, need, geography, etc.)
Even if you have the perfect product and the right role is on the line, you're going to fail if it's not right for a company like theirs...
3. Could I overcome this objection by changing the way I talk about my product?
Even if you have the right product and you're talking to the right person at the right company — you can shoot yourself in the foot by talking about your product in a way that throws 'em off...
4a.) Could I overcome this objection by adding, subtracting, or changing something about the product?
4b.) Would this change be relevant to the people and companies I'm targeting?
Only now are we thinking about changing the actual product in a significant way...
👆And THIS is the core problem I see over and over again...
⁉️Objection autotragically = item added to product roadmap⁉️
This is the recipe for an out-of-control-product that does a poor job of serving a bunch of customer types (AKA doomed to fail)...
But if you systematically record and categorize objections and feedback, you dramatically improve your chances of addressing:
+ Sales problems with sales solutions
+ Marketing problems with marketing solutions
+ Product problems with product solutions...
Sounds like common sense. It IS common sense. But I think it's hard to act on — especially if you're technical —because you're used to solving problems by building things.
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1/ I've been watching the launch of HEY (new email solution by the @Basecamp team) — there's a few marketing lessons we can pull from this launch...
2/ They started by naming and shaming their enemy — free email solutions like Gmail as we know them today. More specifically, the PRICE of free. You pay by giving up data, seeing ads, spying, and feature bloat designed to give everyone *enough* to hopefully not complain.
3/ Giving people *enough* on a free tool is going to be enough for most people — but not people who run their businesses and live out of the inbox. You know... people willing to pay for a better experience.
1/ I've read THOUSANDS of reviews & interviewed customers for dozens of #SaaS companies and let me just say that the reviews for brands we all know are killing it (e.g. @basecamp@ConvertKit@Drift) differ in important ways vs. the rest...
2/ The solution is seen as an important part of the customer's story and success. There's a before and after story and the difference isn't subtle -- it's sharp. For example...
3/ @basecamp has so many customers talking about the before and after that they have an entire page of examples. On @Capterra, I didn't have to scroll past the 3rd review (of 10k+) to see this:
"There is a distinct before and after Basecamp in our lives."...
1/ Just finished @Drift's "This Won't Scale" in a single sitting. This book is PACKED with bite-sized takeaways — here are a few of my favourites...
2/ Get to know your customers. Like, really *know* them. Optimize for conversations. Get on calls, solicit feedback via email, send out surveys etc. Do this consistently — not just when you're about to revamp your site or add new features. Quit hiding behind your technology...
3/ Spend waaaay more time thinking about your market and your place within it. Too many #SaaS companies are stuck in a feature/price war. This isn't where you want to be and it's avoidable. Quit being a "me too" brand. Own something and lean into it...