A Recipe for Disaster…Avoidance
How to eliminate the #1 risk of B2B startups in 7 easy steps:
Step 1: 30 minutes
Craft a breakthrough script using plain language. (See https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/five-sentences-change-your-life-part-1-chris-beall/)
Step 2: 30 minutes
Buy a list of 1,000 hypothetical decision makers from ZoomInfo. Count instances of each title. (Use a pivot table.) Eliminate obvious bad titles with high counts, as well as all titles with only one instance. (People with unusual and cute titles are rarely decision makers.)
Step 3: 1 minute
Load hypothetical decision maker list into ConnectAndSell. Log in. Dial in. Select list. Take a deep cleansing breath.
Step 4: 7 minutes, end-to-end
Click big green GO button. Talk with a hypothetical decision maker. Use breakthrough script precisely. Close for a 15-minute breakthrough-sharing meeting in the following week — or, failing that, get a referral or set a follow-up (unscheduled) conversation.
Repeat Step 4 100 times: 1 week
2 people x 40 conversations/day x 5 days = 400 conversations
Step 5: Evaluate results at the end of Week One
If you have set less than 20 meetings, go back to the drawing board: Step 1 (change breakthrough script) or Step 2 (change target).
If you have set 20 meetings or more, go to Step 6.
Step 6: 1 week
Hold 15 of the 20 scheduled meetings. (Be fanatical about reminders, reschedules, whatever it takes.) Record every meeting.
Step 7: 1 day
Evaluate product-market fit.
If 3 or more of the 15 meetings lead to entering a buying process, continue to repeat Steps 4 through 6 in parallel.
If 2 or less of the 15 meetings result in a buying process, return to Step 1.
Notice that nowhere in here did you waste your time and money building a product no one needs. Your need to demonstrate a product is a psychological problem (yours), not a business problem. Feel free to have 100 conversations to find the truth before you ask your friends and family, and yourself, to finance a “great idea” that has zero validation beyond your own circle.
