So you like our media brand Growth Quarters?
Thisarticlewas originally published byBuilt In.
Why do some new products fly off the shelves while others have sales cycles that extend out for months?
As simple as that sounds, its a trap entrepreneurs fall into over and over again.
Heres how to do that.
Those 60 seconds are all about the product and the pitch.
In fact, confident salespeople might tell you they exude confidence because theyre great at selling.
Those first two things are far easier to change than that last one.
So lets start with the hardest part first.
Discover your market
Who would buy this?
Thats a question you should be asking from the moment your startup idea pops into your brain.
And when I ask, the answer I usually get is: Anyone!
or some slight derivation.
That answer could be correct, but it requires twisting an awful lot of arms.
The latter is risky, because the problem/solution equation usually lies within a specific market.
Will your decision widen your market?
Will it water down the value-proposition?
Will it increase value?
Will it bring more complexity?
Usually, I dont know where my product-market fit is until those X months are over.
And I use X because sometimes X is three, and sometimes X is 36.
But I can assure you this: X is never zero.
I dontdefinemy market; I discover it.
Thats actually an exercise in futility because you dont prove product-market fit, you develop it.
The trick is to use as few words as possible, but theexact rightfew words.
Figuring that out takes time and thought and experimentation.
Readdress your product, reinvent your messaging.
Because the three months that follow the former scenario will look exactly like the prior three months.
This will make the difference between sawtooth growth and scaled growth.
Keep track of each process step, costs, and time.
Become more efficient, reduce waste in the sales cycle, and automate whenever possible.
Most importantly, do not get caught flat-footed when this traction wave ends, because it will.
So you should not only still be asking, Who would buy this?
You also need to be asking, Whoelsewould buy this?
Spend less time on the strategies and tactics that arent working and begin exploring again.
Find a new market, a new angle, upgrade your product, or how you sell it.
