Q: I Cannot Get Prospects Interested in Conversations

There are many reason it can be difficult to get prospects interested in conversations, much less your product. Here are a few along with a suggested sequence of steps to determine their needs.

Q: I Cannot Get Prospects Interested in Conversations

How can I get prospects interested in a conversation?Entrepreneur: I’m a software developer looking to create a product focused on helping SMBs with a problem I am sure that many face. I made the mistake in the past of building first before I talked to customers so I have been trying to interview business owners to make sure the product I am contemplating will meet their needs. I  have posted on several forums for small business owners, done cold outreach on LinkedIn, and paid for lists of small business owners  that I sent postcards and a few letters. No response.  It feels like I’m in the middle of an ocean full of fish but cannot find the right bait. Any advice?

Sean:  I have a few questions just to get some context:

  • What’s the origin story for this product?
  • What firms have you helped with this problem?
  • What was the impact on their business?
  • How did the firms you helped describe what you did for them?

Entrepreneur: There are several enterprise-grade solutions that address this problem. Small businesses don’t have the tech staff to set them up and manage them. I know that small businesses face this problem, but I cannot get them to talk about it.  I am learning as I go, so any help is appreciated. I know that “small business” is a large market, and would like to start in a smaller niche. What’s frustrating is that the technical aspects will be easy for me as I have worked on other data-intensive applications. I want to make sure I am developing a product businesses will pay for.

Sean: Some more questions to consider:

  • How do your target customers solve this  problem today?
  • What are alternatives are available to them that you are competing against?
  • What symptoms can you probe for in case they have not yet articulated their needs?

Entrepreneur: All of your questions are ones I have as well. To answer them, I’d like to interview owners and managers of small businesses. I am trying to conduct customer interviews, but I am having trouble getting them to respond and agree to an interview.
How do I reach my target customers and encourage them to speak with me about their problems, pain points, and current processes?

Sean: In my experience, if your challenge is to get prospects interested in a conversation with you, it’s a very strong signal for one or more of these disconnects.

  1. You are not describing a problem, need, or challenge that is important to them. It may be a problem they know they have but they don’t view it as important when compared to others.
  2. Your description does not match how they experience the problem. Start from symptoms–which is what they experience–and not your diagnosis or your solution.
  3. You have not offered any independent substantiation of your capabilities or results achieved. They don’t have any reason to believe you can help them.

I am very concerned that you have not helped any small businesses with this problem before trying to build software to address it. I think it’s likely that one or more of these disconnects is holding you back. Successful startups normally follow these steps:

  1. Develop content that helps prospects understand and deal with the problem.
  2. Offer a service–perhaps where you use an early version of your product–to provide at least partial relief.
  3. Offer a partial solution that works from the information they have or integrates with existing tools in their infrastructure.
  4. Offer a stand-alone product.

I worry you are describing solutions and trying to offer a stand-alone product without laying the necessary groundwork in steps 1 through 3. Here are some blog posts you may find helpful

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