Customers, and the angle of approach

Why is it that new products have a difficult time getting established, yet seemingly poor quality products often thrive in the marketplace?

If you have the time to read them, there are great books on the market about this. I've read scores of them, but I've never read much that helped me get those first few satisfied customers, then the next hundred, then the next thousand and then on to a thriving business.

I created a product and I brought it to market this year. It solves a real problem and many people continue to show an interest. I have very happy customers who paid full price for the product and I've got some disinterested customers who got it for free. The clue, of course, is right there. Paid for it vs. got it for free. Still, when a customer hasn't paid for it, it doesn't automatically mean they don't value it. Take Google or this BLOG software for instance. I got both for free, and I love them. So, there's more to it than just the purchase price.

Sales prospects can sometimes all look the same, except for one thing; the happy customers were convinced they had a problem before I ever showed up. Sure, the disinterested customers did understand and accept the problem as I explained it to them, but that was only after I showed up to 'splain everythin'.

You've launched a new product. Your first, real, paying customer is the toughest one to get. Most companies never make it this far, by the way. Securing and satisfying your first customer means that many, many good things are in place and your chances of success increase, with that one first customer, by an order of magnitude. You have entered Stage 1 and you're on your way.

The next few customers are still very difficult to secure of course, but each one gets easier (or less hard you might say).
Depending on your product -- you could be selling your first Airbus A380, or you could be AcmeSoft selling your first $29 software product -- it might take you a couple of customers before you move to Stage 2 or it might take you 200 customers or more to get there.

Entering into Stage 2, the value of your product has been proven. You can finally explain to the world what your product does, and you've perhaps ironed out a few product issues.
Stage 2 customers give you the benefit of the doubt because they see that you have a credible set of satisfied customers.

Stage 3 is like free-wheeling down a mountain. Stage 3 customers come along when there is absolutely no doubt about your product acceptance in the marketplace. Even when it does go wrong, Stage 3 customers blame themselves, not your product. (Remember the last time your copy of Microsoft Windows gave you an error, you said "I must have done something wrong"?)

So how can you use this stupid theory to get your business moving?

To build a successful company, you have to enter Stage 1 and progress through it, pass into Stage 2 and go all the way through it, before getting to Stage 3. To wit:

1. When you are in Stage 1, don't waste your time trying to impress Stage 2 or Stage 3 type prospects. Actually, they're not prospects. They will be prospects sometime, but not yet. Trying to sell to them will give you the impression your product does not have value. It's not your product. It's them. You're talking to the wrong people and the more you do it the more depressed you're going to become.
   
2. Focus on those people who know they have suffered with the problem your product solves. Ask them the specific question about whether they have the problem your product solves, for example: Are you bothered by moss on your lawn that you cannot get rid of? If they're not, move on. When you get a phone call from a prospect, don't try to sell him your product unless he meets this criterion. Otherwise the product will be returned or worse, you'll have an unhappy customer.
   
3. Use each new happy customer's experience to add to your "Library of Satisfied Customers". It might be case studies or customer quotes or illustrations, but you must capitalize on those Stage 1 customers. This Library of Satisfied Customers will in time open the door for you to enter into Stage 2.
4. You are in Stage 1 as long as prospects are asking you what your product does.
   
5. You are in at least Stage 2 when you get calls from prospects asking non- product value questions, for example, about pricing and delivery. You have enough truthful and illustrative customer experiences to convince them of your value.
6. You are in Stage 3 when people buy your product because they simply feel they have to because everyone else is buying your product.
   

Even if your product is the cure for cancer, you can't skip Stage 1.

Stage 1 is a scrappy, uncertain and frightful journey requiring faith, persistence and lots of patience. Keep your cool. Especially on the bad days, make sure you keep adding value.

I walked around Mount Rainier three times in the past two decades. The trek is about 100 miles and it takes about 6 or seven days if you are a strong hiker.
I remember looking up at the mountain to see if it looked different as I progressed. It took a day and a half of hard hiking before the mountain looked even slightly different, but by the end of the hike, obviously, its appearance had changed 100% and back again.

The trick to making progress at writing, as the writer Jerry Pournelle said, is...you've guessed it...writing!

The trick to hiking around Mount Rainier (which, by the way, is not for everyone) is ...yes... you've guessed it again you devil you...taking one step after another lots of times.

The trick to getting your first customer and your next customer -- getting into and through Stage 1 -- is adding value every chance you get.
And like the hike around Rainier, you should pace yourself. You don't have to even break a sweat. Just keep taking comfortable steps one after another. The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong...but time and chance happeneth to them all.

The image to the right/above is a page from a Dunn and Bradstreet magazine I read in 1993. I think it is meant to inspire people to persevere in times of adversity. I found it strangely motivational, so I framed it and hung it on the wall of my walk-in closet at home.
Not sure even what it means, but heck, you take inspiration wherever you can get it.

Every stage of growing a business is challenging of course, but statistically, the first stage is by far where most businesses fail. In fact, most companies never get that first happy, paying customer. They never enter Stage 1.

Worth repeating:
What is the best thing you can do to enter and prevail in Stage 1?
Focus all your efforts on prospects who know they have the problem your product solves.

On your arduous climb through Stage 1, you want to get the attention of prospects who are "looking down the hill towards you". They are the folks that will take on board a new idea because it solves their problem and they've been "looking in your direction".

To the undisciplined eye, most prospects look the same, but you must be disciplined in identifying and focusing only on the Stage 1 type people when you are in, or want to be in, Stage 1.

I like to think of Stage 1 prospects as "looking down", Stage 2 prospects as "looking across" and Stage 3 prospects as "looking up".

You need to sell to the folks who are looking down, because that is where you are. At the bottom.

As you approach Stage 2, you can shift your focus towards the people who are "looking across". They are the ones who balance their focus between what your customers say and what your product does.

I'm a Stage 1 kind of guy.
When it moves beyond Stage 1, I'll be askin' for your help.

When you get your first customer, you might learn 20% of everything you will ever need to learn about your product from that one customer. When you get your second customer, you might learn 20% 0f the remaining 80% and so on. With this math, by the time you've got 10 customers, you'll know about 90% of what you need to know about your product.

Liam
SiteLeads.net
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