如果b的区别etween a hobby and a business is making sales to customers, then how do you make the transition? It’s one thing to have a theory around who you’d like to sell to but how do you actually find those initial customers to sell to?

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You might be afraid that you’ll say something wrong and scare away a big prospect. Or you could get frustrated after a few weeks of trying every idea that came to mind. It doesn’t have to be this way.

There’s a simple framework you can use to find customers. It starts with having a theory around your ideal customer, then finding some creative ways to connect, and ultimately not being afraid to make the ask. We’re going to go through the four ways to find your first customer and put them to work.

在找到第一个客户之前,您需要有一个关于该客户是谁以及他们的痛点的理论。这种理想的客户资料(ICP)是您的前100次对话和十二个客户将测试的内容。您认为某个人口统计,地理或职务更可能成为您的客户?他们今天为他们解决了什么问题?他们今天如何解决这个问题?这是他们面临的最大问题吗?

例如,如果我为初创企业出售SaaS簿记产品,我将开始制作我的ICP应该具有什么品质。在这种情况下,有一个不到10个团队成员的小型公司,他们的个人在会计管理财务方面没有经验,这是我想要的理想客户。

Next, I would do some research to determine what the companies who fit this description are looking for. I find the top questions about bookkeeping on Quora, Reddit, and Quickbooks are about the experience running payroll and filing payroll taxes correctly. These folks are currently solving this by paying a third-party accountant or using Quickbooks automatic payroll. These options are costly. My company could potentially help these businesses save money and extend their runway.

This exercise provides valuable insight into what kind of customer you’re looking for. With the findings from that exercise in mind, use the following tactics to get in touch with your first customers.

How to Get Your First Customer

1. Start with your own network.

凭借理想的客户个人资料,您可以通过您的社交资料(LinkedIn,Instagram,Facebook)来查看您可能适合描述的连接。在这项练习中,您并不是在看您对这个人的了解程度,或者您是否在去年与他们聊天,只有当他们可以符合您的标准时。

For example, if you are selling a new product for prospective homeowners, see who in your network is likely a homeowner. Once you have your list, reach out to these folks using a sequence to explain what you’re building and how you’d like their feedback. These are warm connections you’ve likely already interacted with, meaning it may be easier to get meetings, interest, and early sales.

But as you might have guessed selling to your uncle doesn’t automatically mean you have a lucrative business idea. While reaching out to your network is a great place to start, that’s not the only place you should look for customers.

2.与您的营销团队合作以吸引您的理想客户。

如果您的公司拥有bob全站app处理您的付费广告的营销支持,请考虑与他们合作,以确保其广告覆盖适合您的ICP的广告。

使用类似的工具by Producthunt, it has never been easier to set up an experiment. Start by creating a landing page for your product or service to promote using Facebook Ads or Google Adwords. With these platforms, you can control where you’d like your ads to appear and exactly what you want to bid on.

Target the demographics from your ICP (include factors such as age, location, job title, interests) and see how many early sign-ups you can get. On your experiment page, you can ask a series of questions to learn about the prospect. How much time and money are they losing today with their status quo? What would they be willing to spend on your service to solve that?

通过大多数早期广告实验,我不建议您花费超过100美元。这应该足以查看您是否对ICP的人口统计学兴趣。您还可以通过针对不同的组来测试ICP,并查看是否获得更好的结果。

3. Make the ask during customer development.

When you are first creating a product or service, consider doing some customer development. This is the process of finding people with the problem you’re trying to solve. You can find relevant threads on websites such as Reddit, or in social media groups, and ask to connect. If you’re having a hard time getting participants, offering some sort of monetary or product incentive for people may help.

这次会议的目的是了解潜在客户,他们如何解决今天的问题以及他们是否开始研究潜在的解决方案。当您了解前景及其痛苦时,请寻找机会分享您的解决方案。

探讨它的工作原理以及如何帮助该人。您可以结合一个问题,例如“这是您要支付的东西吗?”如果答案是否,您可以询问为什么并了解有关您的ICP的更多信息。如果是,请问他们何时想开始,并设有轻巧的飞行员形式,以方便地转换该潜在客户。

4.使用外站策略来构建管道。

If you are a bit later stage and have already leveraged your existing network, run an experiment to build your signup list, and have done customer development you might be ready to start outbound prospecting. You can do this by creating an outbound campaign targeting prospects who fit your ICP.

例如,如果您想与食品和农业行业的运营经理建立联系,请先创建您想在LinkedIn上与之聊天的人列表。一旦找到这些标题,请使用像Zapinfo获取相关的联系信息。从这里,您可以创建有关产品可以解决的不同痛苦的自定义外展活动。

在您的宣传中,您需要使用适当的平台(电子邮件,电话,LinkedIn)共享内容,并与潜在客户联系。请记住,在这些外展活动中,您不会尝试出售产品,而是出售15分钟的会议以了解更多信息。

确保您的第一个客户可能是一个挑战。如果做得不好,它可以让您认为当您没有任何线索时就知道市场,沿着蜿蜒的产品开发和销售蜿蜒的道路。但是,如果做得好,它将为您的产品和您的业务提供信息。

这个想法构成白板的想法无关紧要。客户决定什么是正确和问题。与他们交谈是我们的工作。

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最初出版于2020年8月3日上午8:30:00,更新于8月3日2020

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