From Impossible to Inevitable

Year read: 2016
How strongly I recommend it: 6/10

(See my list of books I've read, for more.)

Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.

Trust Gap – Selling to Early Adopters (15% of the market) who trust you is different than selling to Mainstream Buyers (85% of the market) who don’t.

Nailing a niche helps bridge the trust gap.

Speak to the dinosaur brain.

Be intriguing and attractive, without over-promising. Do not mislead a customer. Tricking a customer once works but you lose their trust forever.

Help people.

FOCUS on your niche. You have to say ‘No’ to customers that don’t fit your niche.

FOCUS on the 10x thing. You have to say ‘No’ to new ideas and interruptions.

Focus = doing fewer things with higher quality output.

Block out regular chunks of time on your calendar to focus on the 10x things.

Buying Stages

Early stage: “Why?” The customers are actively learning, but not buying.
Middle stage: “How?” The customers want to learn more about how to implement your product in their business/life.
Late stage: “Which?” The customers are getting ready to buy, deciding.

Keep this in mind when talking with customers: “80% of the buying cycle is already done by the time they reach out to you”.

Mark Suster explains his thoughts with a hunting analogy.

Most startups should be deer hunters. Not rabbit (too small) or elephant (too large).

People only get better at decision-making when they are allowed to make their own decisions and learn from the consequences.

Use forcing functions. Make your deliverables and goals public.

Having clear deadlines cuts through my other busyness clutter.

People buy on their time, not yours.

Always follow up.

“Figure out all the tools your prospect needs to sell and justify the purchase internally.” – Aaron Ross and Jason Lempkin
“A bad system will beat a good person every time.” – W. Edwards Deming
“We always focused on solving the unending problems in our companies, so we only saw issues. While we only saw from other companies the success they presented to the outside world.” – Ken Ross

Go to the Amazon page for details and reviews.