User Power
Value/Post Ratio
170%
- Jul 28, 2013
- 1,278
- 2,178
I'm just gonna take you through some stuff I learned on creating a startup.
Lead gen can be a lot like rallying support, if you just go out there and try to "tick" another box, you might find that your help lines remain limp and unresponsive. Spend some time just connecting with people and providing some content for others, and being in and around the scene so that when you speak, people can hear you and say "hang on, that actually sounds great". Verify the utility of these behaviours by suggesting products and hearing service requests, and making some presales, do a batch of test services and products so that you get the feeling of what a home run might feel like.
Having something that captures that potential and make the buy process second nature. Sure you can thrust the product in someones face and dance around like an annoying pixie that had too much sugar, but most people want convenience not migraines. Make all service points and sales points a climate that can help a person remain on auto-pilot and focus on their day. Your product may be the most important thing in the world to you, but to them, you are just another thing to purchase (and thats not a bad thing). You want to make sure that what captures their excitement can operate as a whole experience, you can sell sandwich halfs, but not half a sandwich limits. If the customer has to fit into exactly what you determine they must buy, when there is no logical reason, people are going to lose excitement pretty quick.
Establishing a good name, requires consistancy, so automate your processes as much as you can and simplify every process as much as you can. Ranting, rambling, diatribe like processes will kill your start up's flexibility and severely impact the enjoyment your customers experience with your product or service. Keep things, short and sweet, and make sure you cut off all the loose and purposeless chaff. To remain consistant you need to have your biz "get into a groove", so don't make tons of promises, just see what you CAN deliver, and do your best with customers and consistancy so that they begin to trust your proceedures and inform their friends of that trust.
Establishing a good product. Is all about the audience. A computer is a great product for some people in a city lifestyle, but a horrible product for a man in a cave. It is all relative, and lots of little things can make or break products. This can be very frustrating and can take years of work to figure out, but essentially you need to get over your own ego, and you need to, share the things you create with people until you are consistantly hitting the right notes. If what you are making isn't hitting the right notes, don't get all up in arms about it being hard to sell and that you "deserve more". When you get it RIGHT, people will light up, and you'll realise that you've got a hit on your hands. Don't be afraid to experiment because "right" doesn't mean it is going to sell, and you have to be cool with that, until you can create stuff that will (it takes a lot of work reiterating product designs to get something nice to buy).
You don't need to stress out about the startup too much, you just need to actually be determined to "get down to the bottom of an issue". Automate and organise as much as you can, because it'll give you a lot more time and space to work on making your whole startup run squeaky clean and be truer to concept.
Good luck
Lead gen can be a lot like rallying support, if you just go out there and try to "tick" another box, you might find that your help lines remain limp and unresponsive. Spend some time just connecting with people and providing some content for others, and being in and around the scene so that when you speak, people can hear you and say "hang on, that actually sounds great". Verify the utility of these behaviours by suggesting products and hearing service requests, and making some presales, do a batch of test services and products so that you get the feeling of what a home run might feel like.
Having something that captures that potential and make the buy process second nature. Sure you can thrust the product in someones face and dance around like an annoying pixie that had too much sugar, but most people want convenience not migraines. Make all service points and sales points a climate that can help a person remain on auto-pilot and focus on their day. Your product may be the most important thing in the world to you, but to them, you are just another thing to purchase (and thats not a bad thing). You want to make sure that what captures their excitement can operate as a whole experience, you can sell sandwich halfs, but not half a sandwich limits. If the customer has to fit into exactly what you determine they must buy, when there is no logical reason, people are going to lose excitement pretty quick.
Establishing a good name, requires consistancy, so automate your processes as much as you can and simplify every process as much as you can. Ranting, rambling, diatribe like processes will kill your start up's flexibility and severely impact the enjoyment your customers experience with your product or service. Keep things, short and sweet, and make sure you cut off all the loose and purposeless chaff. To remain consistant you need to have your biz "get into a groove", so don't make tons of promises, just see what you CAN deliver, and do your best with customers and consistancy so that they begin to trust your proceedures and inform their friends of that trust.
Establishing a good product. Is all about the audience. A computer is a great product for some people in a city lifestyle, but a horrible product for a man in a cave. It is all relative, and lots of little things can make or break products. This can be very frustrating and can take years of work to figure out, but essentially you need to get over your own ego, and you need to, share the things you create with people until you are consistantly hitting the right notes. If what you are making isn't hitting the right notes, don't get all up in arms about it being hard to sell and that you "deserve more". When you get it RIGHT, people will light up, and you'll realise that you've got a hit on your hands. Don't be afraid to experiment because "right" doesn't mean it is going to sell, and you have to be cool with that, until you can create stuff that will (it takes a lot of work reiterating product designs to get something nice to buy).
You don't need to stress out about the startup too much, you just need to actually be determined to "get down to the bottom of an issue". Automate and organise as much as you can, because it'll give you a lot more time and space to work on making your whole startup run squeaky clean and be truer to concept.
Good luck
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