How Do You Make Better Decisions Faster?

You have successfully developed and launched your product. Congratulations! Now you may be working with initial lead customers or you may be well past that stage, but something is just not right. The sales pipeline is thin, deals are taking forever or aren’t closing, and maybe sales team turnover is high or you’re hearing complaints the product is hard to sell. What is going on!??? This is an all too common a situation for many early stage tech companies and it is often identified as “poor or lack of market traction”. In addition to the symptoms noted above, the condition of “poor market traction” can be experienced in many ways. Here are some examples: Your pilot projects with initial innovator/champions were wildly successful in producing strong business cases. Despite this, you’ve been repeatedly stalled trying to close the deals to have the pilots converted into production systems. You have a deliriously happy initial customer. Other target customers seem less interested. At the outset, your sales close rate was quite high and is now rapidly slowing. So, what is really going on? In fact, each one of the above examples had a unique set of circumstances that were ultimately explained by: A systemic barrier in target organizations that means they only buy that type of solution as an add-on from their primary system vendor Work processes and tools that were unique to that customer and not universally applicable to others in the same industry Business relationships and programs that could not be easily replicated in other regions. Regardless of the cause, the results are poor sales and a barrier to growth. If any of the above seems to match your situation, that brings us to “how to fix” or more accurately, what specific steps should you take to correctly diagnose the problem leading to “how to fix”? This is where a Customer Discovery initiative can generate the insights you need to accurately determine what’s going on and to gather actionable feedback that can lead to a suitable fix. A Customer Discovery process, as we at Evidology Group define it, starts with changing your perspective from what you’re trying to sell to what customers want to buy; it involves using simple templates to articulate your current customer knowledge, then a methodical approach to validating and filling gaps in that knowledge by securing and conducting highly structured “customer conversations”. For more information, I invite you to contact us at the Evidology Group. We’ll share the templates, provide a more detailed description of the process, and a guide on how to structure effective discovery conversations. Of course, if interested, we would be happy to learn about your business, share our experiences, and discuss whether we may be of assistance.

In our last blog we talked about what makes a good value proposition. Continuing with that theme, let’s explore some critical success factors that can increase your chances of achieving commercial success. At the Evidology Group, we spend a lot of time and energy guiding our clients through a rigorous customer validation process – a process designed to set you on the right path early in the life cycle of your new product journey or to guide a course correction if needed. Being on “the right path” makes it easier to find lead customers, raise money to reach critical momentum, attract high-quality talent, and chart a shorter path to success. Moreover, it’s a much more fun journey for everyone involved! But how do you know if you’re on the right path? The Evidology Group customer validation tools and process are designed to help you collect sufficient evidence to support the following seven critical success factors: A significant, high priority, unmet need exists There’s a large and sufficiently homogeneous market to pursue Current options are unsuitable. Competitors cannot or will not meet this need. Customers are willing to pay an amount that supports the business model There is an effective direct/indirect path to reach them There are no systemic barriers that prevent buying Purchase process and decision-making can be navigated in a repeatable way This evidence comes in many forms, but the best way to stress-test your vision, enthusiasm and assumptions is with cold hard evidence provided in large part by your prospective customers themselves. Done effectively, you will acquire the insights to set you on the right path. A Critical Success Factor Test can help you measure if you’re on the right path and setting yourself up for success. Of course, the evidence listed in this test is intended for guidance only. If you have other sources of evidence, that’s great too! Setting aside your assumptions and beliefs, how many of these questions can you answer clearly and concisely with supporting evidence? What is your score? Often, it’s hard for Founders to dispassionately grade their vision and plan, so turn to an external advisor or the Evidology Group to give you a candid assessment of your evidence and what you need to do to strengthen your business strategy. Are you set up for success? Where are your most vulnerable points? I’m confident that if you can compile hard evidence, you’ll be well on your way to building a wildly successful business. Contact the Evidology Group and we can help you do just that!