At last back from a long summer leave! Time for some new posts. Some of the upcoming topics are:
* Partnership agreement
* Code valuation and how to start a corporation without having to put in money.
* Strange ways of finding programmers
This post will be about alpha sales and staged alpha customer usage. Basically it´s a technique I have deployed for the last two weeks, since I got back from vacations, to get valid customer feedback for our alpha version of our online app SkrivaPå (skrivapa.se), before getting into real sales with the beta version. I want to write about it because I think the technique has worked out very well. If you don´t have an online app but you are into sales, the post might be interesting to you anyway, as it´s really a post about network sales.
Alpha Sales - step by step
1. You are past the stage where you´ve walked n talked to everybody you know about this app you are creating. You have done it so much that you are sick of yourself talking about it. You know exactly how you will start the pitch, you know exactly what questions you are going to get and then what your answers will be. Whenever the topic comes up you turn on the autopilot and start reflecting on how to change topic as fast as you can before you get bored to death. This is important because as you know the topic this well, you will be able to maximize the value of the feedback. You will be geared to really ask the right questions, better understand the doubts, distinguish the more important from the less important feedback and really find what iterations are needed in what prioritized order.
2. Also, you have managed to develop your app to minimum viability. This means, just enough features and just enough design, for the app to be useable. This doesnt mean its really desirable to use yet, but someone that is in great need and that likes you very much, could possibly imagine swallowing their pride and use it at least once.
3. Make a list of friends, people in your closer network and possibly some warmhearted business contacts that would be glad to help you out.
4. Think about an appropriate way to pitch. Do they need to use the app themselves or yould you demonstrate it to them? What techniques should you use? I could strongly recommend demonstration by Skype. I have used it for almost all my pitches and I love it! It´s almost as a real live meeting. But it´s way more efficient. No travelling time and low incentives to do too much social chattering (the latter is nice and even recommended in the pitch as its your friends and close contacts you are calling, but there is less risk of getting stuck for too long). Also it´s perfect for demonstrations, you can share the screen and guide the person with a firm hand through your application. Personally I think it´s better for you to guide them because you know exactly where you are going and you don´t want to waste to much time and create frustration with explaining and figuring out what buttons to press and what´s important to read.
5. Start with calling the nicest, closest and possibly neediest on your list. They will probably be the ones most inclined to really take interest in what you are doing, both from an egoistic and from a helping friends point of view. Which means they probably will dedicate more brainpower and time for creative feedback. As you go you can take people further and further away on the list. Btw, don´t call the ones who potentially could be the most heavy users, making you a lot of cash further on. They are too valuable for that. You want the small fish to see the crums. It wont hurt if some minor fish swim away. Their big value is the feedback they will give you, not the money. What you don´t want is the big fish to remember you as a crum. You want to present to them when there is enough for them to imagine a big tasty loaf of olive bread.
6. Start with some initiating chit chat, let it take a few minutes, remember that you are actually calling people that YOU LIKE and CARE ABOUT. Indulge for a few moments, it will give you both some good energy and make it a better day. A sad salesman is a bad salesman. Now, start the pitch with describing exactly what you are up to:
a. I´ve just starded this new company...
b. Describe what you do.
c. Say you are in alpha mode.
d. Say you are starting with some soft sales just to get good feedback and you thought of them because you know them and you thought they could be a perfect early tester.
e. If necessary recomfirm if you were right and they actually could have an interest in your app.
f. Ask if they would have time for you to demo the app.
g. If no: ask when. If yes: ask if they have Skype.
h. If no Skype: help them install it. Most people will actually be willing to do it. As it is an app you are proposing they are most likley to also have some level of computer knowledge. Some will ask you to get back when they´ve installed it. Don´t rush. Get back when they´ve installed it. If yes Skype: start the pitch.
7. Share your screen and guide them through the app. Be careful to make every step properly and write down all the feedback you find interesting. Don´t be afraid to stop and ask for specifications on the feedback, so that it becomes really concrete. What you really want are all the details. That you have misspelled this, that this button doesnt work, that that step in this process is not logic, that there should be more info somewhere and so on. Write everything down, even the smallest thing, only if relevant and interesting of cause.
8. When all the details are done - usually all of this can take as much as one hour, let it take time, you are really digging gold with all the information and positive energy you get from your helping hand and you really dont want to ever stop as long as you are getting valid feedback - ask what the person would really require to start using the app. If you are actually solving a real problem for the person they will most likley give you the one to three things lacking they consider most important. Don´t miss this point as this is the closing of the sale and also the definition of what feedback they themselves considered most important! This is the real payoff. You make them really imagine using your app and then you get the answer what would make usage into a reality. Now, if you truely believe you will implement the necessary features, give them an estimate on when you think you will be done and say you´ll get back to them as soon as it´s implemented.
9. One very common problem is that they need to show and discuss the app with someone else before taking a decision to use it. Even if the implementation of the features are quite far off, invite them to a testaccount. This will make it possible for them to continue the process you started. They can continue thinking about your app, keep being updated on your progress and do some internal discussions with the people they know and work with. They might even demo it to some external person they consider in need and thus extend the sale you just made.
10. Send them the test account immediately. Say that they will get the app for free for x amount of time as a "thank you" for all the valuable feedback. This gesture is actually not costing you anything as you know they wont be heavy users and you are probably getting a loyal customer. Those will probably be very important for you in the future as they probably will continue to give you great feedback and possibly even evangelize for the app and thus extending the sale over a long period of time
11. Put all the obvious feedback in your global backlog. Put all the larger stuff to think about and the feedback thats interesting but that might not be implemented in the near future, in you customer feedback backlog. Also note in your CRM when and why to get back to the person. I use 37Signals Highrise (great app!) free version and put the reminder on status "later".
12. Show the new stuff in the backlog to you partners and talk through with your partners what stuff from the customer feedback should be put in the global backlog.
13. Implement the feedback put in the global backlog.
14. Get back to the customer when the necessary stuff is done. Probably they wont be fully satisfied. Do as many rounds as necessary to close the sale, but of cause only if the feedback and demands keep being valid.
15. Done.
So to sum up
With the method you:
a. Get great feedback.
b. Get great energy.
c. Test and correct your pitch on safe ground.
d. Close sales at a very high sucessrate.
e. Get more confident.
f. Get core customers that have a high probability of continuing giving great feedback and might continue to evangelize.
g. Also you will have some people that will have seen the app from its very first days and will have a historical perspective and will be able to tell you if you have been going in the wrong direction.
Phew, that was a long post. One can notice I have been missing the blogging during the summer =)
And dont miss this!
Anyway, I want to finish by recommending the best source of fantastic information on IT Entrepreneurship I have found so far. Check out This Week in Startups. It´s a weekly online independent TV show, broadcast from the Silicon Valley with the brilliant serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis. The show is quite long most often, like 1,5-2h, but it´s really worth the time. Put on play, and do your cleaning or play some poker while watching. This is the latest show found on their webpage:
