Going to market is extremely difficult. An entrepreneur must earn the prospect’s time, convince them your software is worth using, and provide value where it saves their business significant money, time, and resources. This is all before we get to pricing!
Entrepreneurs better be willing to write, type, byte, and hype their way to enough users and paying customers.
In the B2B world, product/message fit rules before product/market fit.
According to the best definition I can find on the internet (2nd best definition) Rivalry has achieved product-market fit. Before any company can attain product-market fit, product-message fit must come first. When both are there, they tango like Pacino. Note: It’s important to clarify, product-message fit will always adapt with markets. See Ev’s interview a few weeks ago on how Twitter Should Be a Platform Company.
At the earliest stages of a company, when you are trying to figure out what the heck you are doing. What the heck you are building? Who the heck you are building it for? There is only one constant that will get you through the high’s and the low’s of building a company: the truth.
Better yet, absolute truths. Absolute truth are statements with almost no logical argument against it. Meaning, 99.9% of the world and specifically your prospects believe it.
Examples of companies with Product/Message fit around absolute truths:
Pardot: Marketing is one of the strongest ways to generate leads. Automating many of the manual tasks including list building through landing pages, lead scoring, and drip campaigns will free up more time on the important aspects like content creation. Pardot makes online marketing more efficient with less hassle.
SalesLoft: Being able to set up more qualified appointments will generate more revenue. Setting qualified appointments is the most important and difficult part of a sales development rep’s role. SalesLoft helps sales development reps set more qualified appointments through simple list building on the sales side and easy to use outreach tactics including email and calling.
Rivalry: Better relationships with your direct reports will produce better results. One on ones are the best way to systematically build professional relationships with your direct reports. Rivalry makes sure one on ones happen, are productive, and documented.
Every one of those statements is an absolute truth. The 3rd sentences in each example can be argued but that is when the product proves its’ worth. By then, you have the listener’s attention.
How does an entrepreneur know if they have achieved product/message fit? Stay tuned for another blog post.
Go to market with absolute truths. It is the only thing you have until a product is built.
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