"Contrast creates meaning"

Who buys, who doesn't, and *why*

Today at Noon EST, come hang with me and my HBS friend Jorian and talk about GTM + fundraising! Link to register is HERE. (Free, obviously)

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Even when we have customers, it’s often hard to understand exactly why they buy and exactly what what they want to buy.

We have theories in our heads that are often directionally correct, but aren’t exactly right. And when the theories in our heads aren’t exactly right, it leads to us using the not-quite-right messaging and targeting the not-quite-right people. And of course, this has implications for sales, product, and retention.

Like everything else, the presenting symptom is a sales call that doesn’t feel right. Maybe we’re talking to the wrong person, maybe we’re using the wrong words. Maybe - god help us - maybe we’ve got the wrong product.

Because we know that buyers should pull. They should say “hell yes.” But right now, it feels like we’re pushing, convincing. What do we do?

In short: Contrast individuals who bought fast with those who didn’t buy, or weren’t successful post-sale. The answer is found in the contrast. As Bob Moesta says, “Contrast creates meaning.”

With Waffle, I just went through this:

• I thought people bought Waffle because they wanted to get SOC 2 compliant ASAP

• But then people who needed to get SOC 2 compliant ASAP didn’t buy

• And our “hell yes” customers didn’t wind up getting SOC 2 compliant fast

What?!?!

So I did this exercise. In looking into each specific customer’s story, it turns out that people SEEM to buy Waffle when:

• They are deploying something new and want/need to use AWS, but don’t want the hassle of using AWS.

• They use Waffle to configure infrastructure on AWS for them, and want it to be SOC 2 compliant, and mostly don’t want to think about it.

So I was directionally right, but totally wrong. Sigh. Now, maybe I’m a little less wrong.

The point?

By contrasting REAL examples of customers and non-customers, we swap out the not-quite-right theories in our minds with something closer to reality. We grapple with the foundational question: Who says “hell yes” to what, when and why?

This is the method by which we, to paraphrase Dolly Parton, figure out who we are, so we can do THAT on purpose.

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PS - last call to get my help figuring out your $0-$1M sales pitch before I go out on paternity leave. Learn more and grab time with me to see if you’re a fit here!