4 Proven Tactics to Land Your First 10 Customers
You crafted a breakthrough product. Potential customers are intrigued during demos. But still no one buys. Landing those first few sales can be the hardest - while also being the most crucial validation for ultimately scaling revenue.
Beyond general startup advice like “hustle” and “be scrappy”, what are practical tactics to convert interested prospects into paying customers? Here are the top four strategies we’ve validated repeatedly across early-stage startups to unlock that critical first customer momentum.
1. Get Prospects Invested Through Beta Testing
Rather than big flashy launches, get a small handful of targeted prospective customers actively engaged with the product early via a private beta program. Identify 5-10 prospects from your target customer profile and make them feel special to be handpicked as the first to ever try out this new solution addressing a pressing pain point they have.
Structure their early experience in phases - first a demo and training to set context and capability expectations. Second, grant beta dashboard access to actively start using and testing certain features. Third, schedule multiple check-ins to gather feedback on their experience and collect suggestions to incorporate ahead of an official launch.
This beta onboarding journey serves multiple purposes. They get early free use of the product to experience the benefits firsthand. More importantly, you engage prospects in co-creation - they influence building something they ultimately want to pay for. People value much more what they helped build. And once prospects invest significant time like this, they don’t want that effort wasted by not continuing use. There’s pride and consistency bias driving them to convert to ongoing paid plans.
2. Speak to Their Internal Champion Goals
Every new tool sale into an enterprise has an internal champion driving that purchase and adoption for their own interests, not yours. They usually face skepticism from colleagues and need to justify why this purchase makes sense.
Rather than focusing on general ROI or problem/solution messaging, speak directly to the personal goals of that internal champion buying your startup’s solution.
How will deploying your product make them look innovative and proactive to their bosses? Will they be seen as increasing productivity and impact of their department? Can they take credit for major cost savings uncovered? Support the goals they are personally incentivized around rather than your own. The more you directly help them advance their own interests, the higher the close rates.
3. Publicly Celebrate Your First Customer Wins
No enterprise wants to deploy unproven technology without social proof. Removing this fear of being an early adopter requires overt confirmation they are not alone in buying from you.
After that very first customer win, blast press releases, plaster website logos showcasing big name customers, share on social media announcements with customer quotes on their purchase rationale. Make louder noise publicly about early wins than feels comfortable. This external signalling builds necessary credibility that you are a safe choice, not untested rookies.
And ask satisfied early customers if you can connect them with prospects you are chatting with who need reassurance talking to a fellow user. Quick customer testimonial calls can rapidly build trust with uncertain prospects still on the fence.
4. Offer Ultimate Flexibility to Get Started
Explore creative ways to make those first purchases frictionless. Can you break apart products unbundled just to address their immediate needs on an incremental basis? Take a task they handle manually in Excel or an existing tool and migrate simply that limited function. As they gain value from your specialized capability handling that singular workflow, expand from there. Avoid pushing long term contracts initially that produce commitment friction. Offer month to month flexibility with ability to cancel anytime as they test you out without feeling locked in. Consider even limited free pilots if needed to break the ice with extra hesitant customers - getting a foot in the door for an expanded foothold long term.
While tempting to hold out for ideal customers, reducing any speedbumps to adoption is critical in those delicate, untrusted early stages. Land smaller initial purchases focused solely on singular burning problems then expand. Be flexible adapting your product and pricing to let them cost-justify taking a chance on the new startup solution.
First Step on the Path to Scale
There is no substitute for activating those first real customer wins - critical for financing runway, determining product fit, establishing credibility for future expansion, and of course, starting to generate real revenue. Follow these proven tactics for engaging early prospective customers to ultimately convert them to happy, referenceable customers singing your solution’s praises. The rest of the startup journey branches out from there.
For more reading on sales, check out these articles:
Do Not Delegate Sales: The Incredible Benefits of Founder-Led Sales
Decoding the Distinction Between Sales and Marketing: Unveiling the Core Differences
18th December 2023