Art of the Start 11
Guy made a funny comment between sessions. Guys law: to calculate valuation of a prefunding company, for each full time engineer add one million, for each MBA you subtract 250 thousand. :-)
Rain Making
Let a hundred flowers blossom. Where are things growing? They might not be the places you expect, and be receptive to that. Get version 1 out and pay attention.
Find your fulcrums, its all about leverage. Get taken in (who does your customer already have a relationship with? who should be your new best friends?), get referred in (current customers, board of directors/advisors), endorsements (who is your “American Dental Association”), who besides you has a vested interest in your success?, always be on the lookout for out-of-the-box fulcrums.
go after agnostics, not atheists. You want an agnostoc who knows they have a problem. An additive sale is a magnitude easier than a displacement sale. Bill Joos law: it’s not enough to build a better mousetrap, you have to find people passionate about killing mice.
Who are the influencers? Stop, look, and listen.
Make the first steps easy. Test drive or free trial (puppy dog), don’t underestimate switching costs, get a small piece before the whole pie, if the roles were reversed what would you want?
Use the right lead generation techniques. Small scale seminars (create a gathering at your podium, of attend someone elses), get published (find a publication or write a whitepaper), proactive networking (the exact opposite of cold calling, give and take,whats in it for your network), participate in industry events (both yours and your custoners)
Question everything. Hearing is not listening. Become an active and intelligent listener. Listen with a pen. Develop a healthy curiosity. Listen to what is not said. They’ll tell you what it takes to close the deal if you ask the right questions.
There are huge benefits to benefits. Features suck, benefits rock. When you make statements make sure you provide a framework for understanding that statement. Make sure that your customer isn’t saying “so what”. When talking about features make sure you explain the benefit. (Feature, benefit, reaction)
Objections. Learn to love objections. Objections are the path to solving pain. Usually the wrong objection answered, peel the objection onion. The real objection is normally 2 or 3 layers down. Verify and clarify. Take objections and make them objectives. Use references (“feel, felt, found”).
Selling is a process, not an event. It is an attitude, all sales all the time.