Foolish Adventure

Great episode and I got some good thoughts out of it. I also want to interact on a couple points.

I took away a few points, such as:

- don’t be afraid to talk to people in the target market you are looking at. Just open up and talk!

- This is not an either/or but a both/and situation. Do all the research you can: the market generally as well as talking to individuals.

For interaction:
1. We go looking for what the problems are in a particular target market…and on the podcast that sounded pretty open ended (which is fair enough as it was an overview)…however, it’s not quite like that really, is it? FA often talks about being a real expert with real skills and value to offer, and my point here is that most people have a limited field of skills etc to offer. So, in reality, we are actually looking at solving problems in target markets, “within the realm” of our skills. We are looking for WHAT we might be able to offer (as well as HOW would be best to offer it), but within the realm of what we actually do, right?

An example: A web designer thinking it might be a good idea to get into taking on clients without a website would be well served in going and talking to businesses without a website first, before making assumptions.

2. Does it always have to involve this? I only say that because almost any concept seems to get taken too far on the internet (not saying you guys did, I’m just saying that’s what happens with a lot of concepts). What I mean here is (by way of example)…let’s say you’re an accountant, looking to set up a solo practice. Let’s say you’re in (or you deliberately choose) an area without too much of an oversupply of accountants. There’s little consideration here, right? Of course you want to practice customer development, but you can virtually skip to phase 2 later on (where you are interacting with current clients to determine how best to serve them). You can pretty much skip phase 1 of, “is this a good idea – do people want this?” We know people need these services. So I’m just trying to put the concept in some sort of context.

Seems to me to be most pertinent when introducing a new product/service?

Of course, I could be wrong!

Perhaps in my accountant example, he might be better off talking to different sub markets (retail business clients, service business clients, individual tax clients etc) and might determine a better (and possibly more efficient and profitable!) way of serving that market – and perhaps even just specialising in that market.

What do you guys think?

Hey Tom,
Happy to hear you got value from it! I did the same thing for the longest time – a bunch of circling the wagon and doing things unrelated to discovering and validating an idea/customers. The calls you make, and people you speak with will open doors and opportunities in abundance. Let us know if you need any help. Best of luck!

Hey Shayna,

If not enough people are buying as you’d hoped and some expressed interest but didn’t buy, there are a few things to consider and a few reasons. I don’t know your business, so take from this what is applicable:

- Some people will express interest, but that never equates to buying. The true test of your product is when people are putting down money to get it (i.e. is it “viable”, that we mentioned in the podcast). So, interest isn’t enough and never a true indicator of how much you’ll sell.

- Price point: rarely a price issue, as people pay for value. So, if someone finds a “blue widget” to have a lot of value, they’ll pay just about any price. Someone else might look at the same “blue widget” and not ever pay for it. If you’re coming across price shoppers, run the other way, don’t sell to them.

- Could be an issue of presentation (marketing), but that’s a variable that comes up in connection with other things (see above and below).

- Trust issue: sure, could be, so the test would be to increase trust and see if that matters.

- Have you exhausted the full extent of your market? That is, have you reached everyone you could possible reach? You might have to increase number of customers by increasing number of people you get in front of. If you’re only in front of 1,000, but the total market is 15,000 (just random numbers), then the goal would be to get in front of more people.

- Let’s say there’s 1,000 people in your market, and you’ve only sold to 400, then the key is to increase your conversion rate so you can sell to 500, 600, and so on.

- Like you already mentioned, you can call up and ask people why they didn’t buy, if you have that option. I’ve done it. Often, they love the idea but don’t have the budget. If that’s the case, that’s good, because you don’t want to sell to people who cannot afford it. Sell to those who can, and look for those who can.

These are just some of my thoughts, and I’m sure Tim can add to this.

Again, take what’s applicable, but hopefully you might find something useful.

Thanks Samuel…Great Answers!
That was really some good food for thought for me, and the whole idea is such a relevant area for me right now.

You’ve given me a bit of a different perspective now – which is a good thing!

Thanks! This comment was so helpful I actually saved the Disqus notification e-mail rather than deleting it as I usually do.

I have most definitely NOT exhausted the full extent of my market… so that’s one thing to work on.

Also, getting feedback on why people are on the page but aren’t buying could certainly help me adjust the presentation – for example, if the #1 answer is “I’m not sure if this product is right for me,” I could add a prominent section to the sales page that says “This product is for you if… [bullet points]” and/or allow them to see a free sample, etc.

Do you recommend doing that whole “big launch process” hoopla where you create buzz over the course of weeks with your mailing list, do a pre-launch, then do the full launch with a bunch of extra-special limited-time bonuses? (and so you end up e-mailing your list two dozen times about the same product)

I know it works, but somehow the idea of doing it makes me squirm. I’m not shy about selling, but I feel like if the offer’s really a solid match for the potential customer’s needs, there shouldn’t need to be a ton of marketing tricks used. Wondering if there’s a way to do a slightly toned-down version…

While I agree about the need for those qualitative interviews, I’d be interested in hearing about the statistical relevance of selected interviews. I think it would be easy to pick the folks you know would share your opinion, or who are “good friends” and so would be unwilling to burst your bubble. It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to base your company’s success on interviews with your two best friends.

So how do you balance that? How do you know that the information you’re getting holds for the market as a whole and isn’t just anecdotal?

Launching works when you know your message and product match your market. Get one of the three wrong and your launch will fizzle. Ooooweee, do I know!

Get them right and a launch can supercharge the spread of your product into a market as well as give you the financial resources to continue to promote. Also, it gives you a lot of social proof in the market.

If you don’t know if your product or message match your market then a soft launch makes sense to get some early adopters to let you know.

Sorry, Seth Jackson. I didn’t mean to make your startup cry. I am for real!

Tim already gave his thoughts on your good points, so I’m just going to re-iterate a few things that I’ve found important…

IMO, Statistical relevance is, for the most part, not relevant, at least not in the beginning.

Like you already brought up, in part…

I would not ask my friends or acquaintances when I do Customer Development, trying to validate problems, solutions, or asking them about my logo, about my website, about my product — in short, asking friends or family for most business-related things is often not a great idea.

Should you even if they happen to be examples of perfect customer? I’m less certain of that one than Tim is, as you’re more likely to get skewed answers than if you speak with strangers. I’d avoid it.

Anecdotal vs. meaningful information? Ask a lot of questions that describe workflow and process, as opposed to just asking “what’s your problem?”. I ask less straight-up “what’s your problem?” type questions the more I do this, as you can get better insights if you take the time to understand how they go about certain things now, their process (or lack thereof), etc.

You can often elicit problems by asking “How does X affect Y?”, “What’s the most time-consuming obstacle to get to Z?”, and so on.

You also don’t know, for sure, until you’ve validated problems and solutions, and attempted to acquire customers. It’s an on-going process that doesn’t stop. It just changes.

Thanks. I hope you’ve been able to use it on your project.