Over the last 9 plus years, hundreds of founders have come to me for coaching on their sales and go-to-market challenges. And I’ve done my best to help. In the next few months, in the form of weekly episodes, we’ll be looking at the top startup sales misconceptions folks possess. And how I get them to think instead. Reading this series will make you smarter and more aware than most startup operators, as you’ll already know how to think about go-to-market and sales, and avoid some of the biggest pitfalls. Consider this your cheat sheet in shaving months off your revenue growth journey. Here’s your ninth installment. Read on.
“I’ve been studying our target persona. I know what works and what doesn’t with these prospects. You have to listen to me.”
Or, “I’ve worked this channel in go-to-market for a long time. I know what I’m doing here.”
Or even, “I never answer cold emails. I just hate them. There’s no way this is going to work with our market.”
These are comments I get a lot from clients I work with or startup operators I get to meet.
There’s nothing wrong with drawing on experience to draw conclusions about the world. The problem lies in having that be the only input. Or fervently holding onto beliefs that don’t appear to work for us.
We’re more than allowed to have our own perspectives. Our biases. Our ways of viewing the world. The issue arises when we close ourselves off to other perspectives. Or to the possibility that reality could be different from what we initially thought.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been humbled in the discipline of go-to-market. Things I thought ended up being dead wrong. Or beliefs I held kept holding me back.
One example came to mind when I was thinking about writing this piece. Years ago, a premium co-working space approached our consultancy for marketing help. They wanted to build out their automated email initiative. This office space provider had a desirable client base, gorgeous ergonomics and design in premium locations across the city. They were looking to acquire clients by getting the word out to startup operators who wanted to work in an inspiring setting. The offer we put forth was an opportunity to tour the stunning offices. And have a go at working at one of the three locations for free for a day.
Several weeks into our engagement, the leaders of the co-working space suggested we include beautiful pictures of their locations in the emails we were sending out.
All of my previous experience screamed a resounding “No!”
Anytime we had included pictures in automated outbound emails had been duds. Emails were too heavy. They often ended up tripping spam filters. And recipients didn’t like us clogging up their inboxes with these large messages.
So why would this even work?
I understood that we’d showcase the elegance of these offices. But I couldn’t bring myself to believe that including photos was going to be worth it.
After the initial sets of campaigns ended being mediocre. And the owners of this coworking space kept pushing. I finally relented.
“Let’s give it a go. Don’t think it’ll work. But we owe it to ourselves to test it out. Our campaigns haven’t been very successful so far. We have nothing to lose.”
Can you take a guess as to what happened next?
I was humbled.
Surprised and thrilled. All at the same time.
Our automated email campaigns took off. And soared. Our prospects were booking a ton of free tours. And we were generating foot traffic.
Our client was thrilled. We count them as a hugely successful case study.
And yet, all of this success probably wouldn’t have happened, were it not for them insisting. I had to put my ego – and previous experience – aside, and launch the experiment. Without knowing whether or not it would pay off.
The market spoke. As it turned out, prospects wanted to see glossy pictures of the office space they’d inhabit someday. And we all won out.
Eating humble pie is all part of the job as go-to-market folks. I welcome it now. I try to challenge my own assumptions. Beliefs. And lessons from past experiences. Just because I learned something in the past doesn’t mean it’s still applicable. Or that it doesn’t deserve to be questioned. Or refined. We all should remember: our experience – at the end of the day – is very limited. N of 1. Even for those of us that have seen a lot. And new inputs should have us draw new conclusions about the world. We need to be okay with that. And accept it, even.
I’ve seen founders and startup operators hold on to their beliefs for dear life. Not wanting to even allow for the fact that reality might be a bit different than what they previously imagined. I had a founder a couple years ago hold onto his vision of only wanting to do product-led growth. After over a year of optimizing his inbound flows, and only when left with six months of runway, he decided to hire me because his revenue numbers were not moving up and to the right fast enough. I’ll let you guess what ended up happening to his startup. Just the other day, I did a consultation with a founder who was convinced that outbound email should in no way be part of her go-to-market, because she hates “receiving cold email, and I haven’t ever responded to one in my life.” When I asked her, “Have you considered that you might be different from your target market? Or that your opinion only represents the views of one person?” She finally replied, “Maybe we should try it.” I’ll take my victories small when I can get them.
Perhaps Socrates offered us the most worthwhile lesson when it comes to go-to-market – and life in general, when he uttered, “I know that I know nothing.”
When devising GTM experiments with clients in session, they’ll often ask, “Do you believe this will work?”
My advice often takes the form of, “I don’t know. But we owe it to ourselves to try it.”