Start with "why not?"
Your first customers won't be "hell yes", and that's ok
We all know the goal: To get to one repeatable, “hell yes” case study. And repeat it 1,000,000x.
But how do we get there?
In general, for our first 10 customers, it’s unlikely that each, hell any, customer will be a clear “hell yes” pre- and post-sale. While this is the ultimate goal, “hell yes” emerges in time, through imperfect repetition and the unfolding process.
We tend to over-index on getting to “hell yes” before we have 1, 2, or even 10 customers. As a result, we overthink everything and push for perfection vs. just taking messy action. And we wind up stuck closer to zero customers than ideal.
To fix this, I’d like to propose the “why not” rule.
For early customers, if we’re not nailing “hell yes”, that’s ok. Instead, focus on getting them to say “why not.” E.g.,:
Why not take the next step in the sales process? Seems useful enough to me.
Why not buy? E.g., there’s a money-back guarantee and it’s not super expensive.
Starting with “why not” has a lot of benefits:
It gives us a chance to learn with real paying customers. Versus getting stuck in a never-ending loop of conversations with prospective customers.
It gets us out of perfection purgatory, where we don’t make progress because someone hasn’t said “hell yes.” We can still make the offer and push, even if they don’t pull very hard.
When we settle for “why not” pre-sale, we can then focus on what’s MOST important: Getting to “hell yes” post-sale.
Yes, “why not” has downsides. We’re going to have unhappy customers. We’re going to have churn. We’re going to feel and look stupid. And this will suck.
But the fastest-growing startups I’ve seen all start with “why not.” And they wind up getting to “hell yes” faster than the startups that try to nail “hell yes” up front, because they get more at-bats.
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PS: Want a CTO’s help getting your AWS account SOC 2-ready fast? See Waffle, and/or email me at rob@reframeb2b.com
In what little sales I have done, my trainers taught me to avoid asking "Why not?" for 1 clear, psychological reason: It predisposes the customer to think of objections & focus on the negatives aspects of the purchase. Instead, they taught to ask positively leading questions the lead to a series of positive attitudes toward the product / service. Instead of "why not buy?", ask "do u see the value this offers to your business / life?"