Sahil Mansuri: preference

Transcript context

…This is a good segue because it'll bridge us back to where you just came from and hopefully move us forward, which is warm intros. So if cold outreach is going to be less effective, then what increases in efficacy in this time is, again, warm intros. So one thing you got to remember as a more general statement is that companies either grow or they die. There are no middle. There's no, "Oh, we're going to cut burn and just try to survive the winter long enough so that..." That doesn't work, right? Because employees get demoralized, investors lose faith, the days become long and the nights become longer and eventually you just run out of energy as a business. I think startups in particular are effectively energy driven. The more energy, the more belief, the more momentum that you have, the more tailwinds you have, the more things grow and feel possible. But of course if you look at the odds empirically, no startup should never begin because the odds are you're going to fail. That failure meets you in the eye over and over again as you're shrinking the size of your team, as you're shrinking the size of your budget, as you're doing fewer things and you're taking things away. So I don't really believe in this like, oh, we are just going to survive mentality. I think you have to adjust, of course. I think you have to be a realist. I'm not suggesting that you be blind to reality. I'm just suggesting you also have to keep the energy going. So what I mean by keeping the energy going is to say, "Okay, let's get..." So here's a couple ideas. First is let's cut a bunch of stuff but keep some money that we're going to invest in doing an in-person customer event. Okay, why do I think that's a good idea? I think it's a good idea because, first of all, we've all been stuck in our houses for a couple years and so when we get a chance to go on a trip for free somewhere, we tend to say yes. That's nice. Secondly, I think that you could be strategic and maybe have the trip be for customers only and in February or something. So maybe you survive the budget cuts this year because people are like, "Well, I got this great trip and I really don't want to miss it. Is there a way we can just keep this tool on?" You might think, "Oh, well, are you bribing customers or whatever?" I mean, it's just psychology. I think you have to use psychology to your advantage. I would do a big customer event in February, invite all my current customers and say, "Hey, as long as you're still a customer as of Feb 10, 2023, you're invited to this all paid trip to Napa to go drink a bunch of wine for a week." I bet that would probably meaningfully change your churn rate. Yeah, it's not going to change everything but it'll change something. I bet it would. Because at the end of the day, people are people. Sales is done by people. It's a belly to belly human sport. It's not just lines of code on a piece of paper. t it'll change something. I bet it would. Because at the end of the day, people are people. Sales is done by people. It's a belly to belly human sport. It's not just lines of code on a piece of paper. You got to talk to another human, which is what makes it hard and unscalable and more of an art than a science. But also makes it really fun because it just plays by different rules, a different set of rules than many other things do. Recruiting being the other thing that is this. So in-person customer event. The other reason why I like in-person customer events is because they're a perfect opportunity for you to get new deals done. So how does that work? Does that mean I also invite prospects to the event? No, actually I wouldn't do that. So I think a lot of companies do this where they'll invite customers and prospects to the same event. They're like, "Oh, commingle and sell each other." Not the smartest way to do it. You want only customers in the event and you want to use that again to share thought leadership and such. But then, during all the happy hours and the lunches and the late evenings and whatnot where you start to say, "Hey look, in this market you're finding value in our product. Who are one or two other folks that you know in the same position as yourself that might also find value? Who do you know that has the same problem? Who do you know that's going through this? Who do you know that might benefit from this research paper, et cetera?" You just start collecting a bunch of warm interest. But then you don't just stop at getting the name because a lot of teams stop here. They'll basically get the name and then they'll be like, "Okay, got the name. Now I'm done." Actually not the right way to do it. You get the name and you say, "Great, can you make me an e-intro? Actually even better. Can you connect me over text?" So one tip that I have for all founders, all sales leaders, everyone out there, stop using email. Email is where deals go to die. Text message is where deals get done. So this notion that I'm going to e-intro you over email and that's how we connect is just far worse than the thing that I would really recommend, which I do all the time. We have a Webflow as a customer. I love Webflow. I know their sales leadership. We try to do a really good job for them. Anytime that their sales leader mentions a company that might be needing to hire or whatnot, my only response is, "Great, connect me over text." Then I get the text intro with the person. Here's the other fun part. I don't take the introer off the thread. So the other thing we tend to do is we CC the person who responded, but in text you don't need to do that. You can keep the person on a little bit and it holds the person's feet to the fire to actually show up for the meeting. Again, it's these little things, right? 2% here, 3% here. This is how you win in this economy. You got to do all the things right. So you keep the person on the thread long enough so that you've actually built that relationship for the first call, obviously not forever. But in the first 10, 20 messages, I'd keep the person on. t. So you keep the person on the thread long enough so that you've actually built that relationship for the first call, obviously not forever. But in the first 10, 20 messages, I'd keep the person on. That allows you to ensure that the person goes to you, which happens a lot, I'm sure you know. You get an intro and the person never responds or they cancel on you. You can't get back on their calendar. You stay with them. This happened recently where I got introed from one sales leader to another and that sales leader basically then had a family or legit situation but then got busy and was like, "I'm not taking this thing." But I just kept pinging into that group every week or two for actually nine weeks. Then by two and a half months later, the person finally is like, "I'm so sorry, et cetera." Only after my original contact was like, "Yo, you're making me look bad here." So that pressure is what forced... Then we got them as a customer and now things are good. So it just takes all that. It takes those little things. You got to build a bridge from your current customer base to future customers and parlay the goodwill, relationship, et cetera that you've earned in serving your current customers to get new ones. Because otherwise, I don't think it's just relying on a bunch of SDRs and cold emails and stuff is going to get you through the next six to 12 months.…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.