Dr. Sean Wise, BA LLB MBA PhD Filling the Funnel

In this module you will learn: Where to find users, customers and clients How to track success with Pirate metrics How to manage a funnel Web resources to get your started Fundamental startup sales perspectives

Where are we? Picked a target market Undertook customer discovery interviews Built a customer persona Drafted our first Lean Canvas Identified the largest most inelastic unmet market need Noodled on a variety of solutions to turn that unmet market need (i.e. opportunity) into a valuable venture Created a straw MVP to begin testing for Problem / Solution Fit

Product Market Fit Scale now Startup Lifecycle Product Market Fit Scale now (LTV > COCA) Problem Solution Fit You are Here!

You are searching for EVIDENCE of Problem / Solution Fit, how will you know you have found it?

Problem / Solution Fit A problem is worth solving if more than 40% of the TestPop identify it as a top 3 issue You will know you have found it when: Customers are already hacking their own solution Pilot Users refuse to give back prototypes Current solution is 10x more costly, slow, bulky, unsatisfactory

You have an MVP What’s Next?

What’s an MVP? A MVP is “that product which has just those features and no more that allows you to ship to early adopters, at least some of whom resonate with (e.g. pay you money for) and provide feedback on” Doesn’t have to be just money, but must be more than words, must be a measurable action: Signups Downloads Use

What is an MVP? Minimum: MVP contains the core features and everything that isn’t a MUST HAVE is stripped out Viable: MVP can be built and have opportunity to gain traction Product: MVP creates value for people

Purpose of MVP Maximum learning with minimum effort MVP is an experiment to turn lean canvas assumptions into validated learnings Maximum learning with minimum effort Time and money are scarce Offers focus and execution Builds early traction Crystalizes customer input, helps refine solution and minimize scope creep The goal of the MVP is to test your understanding of the customer’s problem & see if your solution will prompt him to adopt your solution based on important features alone – Bernard Leong

You have created an MVP Explainer Video MVP Landing Page MVP Wizard of Oz MVP Concierge MVP Piecemeal MVP Crowdfund MVP Single Feature MVP From VLADIMIR BLAGOJEVIC ’s blog http://scalemybusiness.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-minimum-viable-products/

How to Test your MVP Customer Interviews A/B tests Ad campaigns Crowdfunding Blogs, Product Hunt & Reddit Paper prototyping Buy now buttons

Next: move from MVP testing to Customer Acquisition

Customer Acquisition

Remember the long term goal is Product/Market fit (COCA < LTV)

Track your interactions against Pirate Metrics

Track your interactions against Pirate Metrics

Track your interactions against Pirate Metrics

This is really sales funnel

Track your interactions against Pirate Metrics Record results in Sales Funnel & Dashboard Start small: Where will we find our first users? Focus on 1 action: We want people to sign up (download, buy, etc) on our landing page. Run experiments: How much will a google ad word cost me? What percentage of clicks through become users (e.g. download, buy, sign up) Repeat experiments to get comparable data: It takes $10 to get a sign up through google ad words, but only $5 through facebook. Let results drive you: Use more facebook ads to determine, which ad content drives more signups. Only move on to Activation once you have found a low cost friction free method for acquisition

Track your interactions against Pirate Metrics Record results in Sales Funnel www.zoho.com CRM https://podio.com/ www.smartsheet.com/Sales_Funnel ‎ www.kaizenmarketinginc.com www.pipedrive.com

Funnel Principles to Remember It all starts with your audience. People move down the funnel when they get something. At each step, when people move down the funnel, there is a call to action. The goals at each step of the funnel have to be in-line with that final goal

Types of Acquisition Experiments Blog Viral Loops Social Selling Social Media Content marketing (e.g. Articles on Huff Po) Host a AMA Case studies and White Papers Reviews & PR (e.g. Techcrunch) Early adopter communities (e.g. Product Hunt, Reddit) In person conferences, competitors Leverage network Scrape FB and LinkedIN for cold leads) Free ebooks Online Ads (FB, Google, LinkedIN, iAds) Add a hello bar https://www.hellobar.com/ Email marketing For more read this: https://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-customer-acquisition/

Types of Acquisition Experiments

Building a Customer Acquisition Process 1.Define your ideal customer 2. Define your goals, milestones and priorities 3. Map your acquisition funnel 4. Know your metrics 5. Track everything from day one use a KPI Dashboard More: http://ryangum.com/customer-acquisition-plan/

Building a Customer Acquisition Process

Further Reading on Customer Acquisition Building out the funnel: http://blog.twoodo.com/912/analyzing-data-guide-conversion-funnels/ http://www.mariposaagency.com/blog/how-to-grow-your-startup-using-the-funnel-concept www.startupnation.com/articles/build-sales-lead-funnel/ How to fix a leaky bucket: http://blog.crazyegg.com/2015/10/12/cash-strapped-cro/

Startup Sales Perspectives Nothing happens until someone makes a sale. Absolutely %$#&! nothing.

Startup Sales Perspectives No one cares what you are selling. They only care about what they are buying.

Startup Sales Perspectives No one ever got fired for buying from IBM. Managers don’t hire the best, they hire those who won’t get fired.

Startup Sales Perspectives the goal is moving a deal forward or getting a firm “no” as early in the process as possible great opportunity to learn why someone who you think should buy your product doesn’t want to the key to making it work is being persistent - really persistent, even to the point where it’s awkward and uncomfortable

Startup Sales Perspectives HUSTLE. Show up. Follow up. Close. High tolerance for rejection Each rejection is a learning opportunity great opportunity to learn why someone who you think should buy your product doesn’t want to http://blog.close.io/y-combinator-sales-school http://www.slideshare.net/GrenetFabien/y-combinator-startup-class-19-sales-and-marketing-12

Startup Sales Script

Startup Sales Perspectives If you need to learn how to sell or refresh old rusty selling skills, these books are highly recommended: Spin Selling High Probability Selling Selling to VITO

Startup Selling Still lean, still seeking to address uncertainty via learning experiments View all sales as a process of elimination, learning what Doesn’t Work Looking to crystalize the lowest friction path to growth A startup is……looking for a repeatable scalable business model

The path to certainty

In this module you learned: Where to find users, customers and clients How to track success with Pirate metrics How to manage a funnel About Web resources to get your started Fundamental startup sales perspectives

End of module 6