Be Aware of Compliments: Discovering Product-Market Fit – Go-to-Market Propeller

The latest in an occasional column on bringing products to market in emerging technologies, by industry marketing expert Amy T. Wiegand: Go-to-Market Propeller.  Go-to-Market Propeller is the practical support a growing industry needs – getting from innovation to sales.  In this article: the deep dive on discovering product – market fit.

by Amy T. Wiegand

Have you ever had a prospective customer tell you your product is great? They verbally testify that they love it and even proclaim it’s the best. You walk away ready for the celebration, but months later, the same prospect still hasn’t closed?

Perhaps they aren’t lying. Maybe we didn’t hear beyond the compliments or ask the right questions.

Founders are challenged by product-market fit. Many believe they’ve done their due diligence and can easily rely on compliments to prop up market validation. Compliments are nice, yet getting beyond pleasantries is where we win value.

Have you ever tried deflecting those compliments? Pushing back? Whether you’re a lean startup or a scaling organization, asking the right questions after a compliment can help everyone save time and money and get to revenue generation faster.

Does this resonate?

Prospect Compliment Scenario:

You: Pitched product in under 20 minutes. (I’m awesome.)

Prospect: Wow! That’s amazing! I have never seen a product do that. (It’s cool, but I’m not sure how we’d use it.)

You: Yes, we’re predicting a 75% time savings, which minimizes operational costs, too. (I’m fantastic. I used data to support my value proposition.)

Prospect: Okay, great, let’s stay in touch. (I’m unsure how this solves anything for me, so I’m stalling.)

You: (That meeting went really well!!! Schedules follow-up in CRM.)

Your Boss Six Months Later: Why don’t we have more customers? I thought everybody loved us.

We all know there are many reasons customers don’t close. Yet, we also know that when our discovery calls extract facts that identify solid data from those conversations, we can identify valid product-market fit and create a better pitch to close. More importantly, we can eliminate the “no’s” quickly.

The next time a prospective customer says: “I love the product. It’s amazing.” or “I haven’t seen anything like it.” or “It looks like the best on the market,” deflect their compliments with questions to help uncover their problems and challenges.

Thank you, we think so…

• Share with me why you think our product is amazing.
• What would the product allow you to do?
• What would the feature enable you to do?
• How are you accomplishing existence without our product or feature?
• Why is it better than others on the market?
• What makes our product different than others you’ve used?
• How would our product make your job easier?
• Where do you see value in implementing the product?
• How would our product help you with current challenges?
• Was there anything you didn’t like about our product?
• How does our product affect your business objectives?
• What problems would our product solve for you?
• Who else at your organization would love it?

What other questions can you and your team use to deflect compliments and uncover prospective facts that help the customer win?

We know we’ve had a great call when our prospect takes the time to share valuable specifics. This also can signal a commitment to progressing to the next steps. And we’ve focused on their experience, not our idea—solid gold! Since we know our product is excellent, with that confidence, we can deflect the pleasantries and get down to business faster.

Amy T. Wiegand is a go-to-market professional, having worked with the best of tech start-ups and notables like Walmart, The Coca-Cola Company, NATO, UPS, local, state, and federal governments, colleges and universities, top ad agencies, and more. She has realized revenue generation growth throughout her career and champions brand management, pipeline strategy, organizational process and implementation, content, product and digital marketing, public and investor relations – and profitability. Amy is also a project architect and master director, having developed award-winning programs in aviation, technology, and special military operations. Amy was the first person to facilitate a sUAS training program for The State of Virginia in 2014, is an enthusiastic leader of STEM initiatives, and distant cousin to the notable Amelia Earhart. She is the founder of Earhart Alden & Associates, LLC, a go-to-market consulting firm, and the proud single mom of a college-age daughter.