Re:Ask HN: Selling Software, How?
by JohnFen on Monday December 30, 2019 @12:39PM
(#21915134)
> I might be asking wrong...
Asking people how they work in real life is not usually that productive. People often don't really know how they work -- they just work -- and will tell you what they think that they do rather than what they really do.
If you have identified a target market (and if you haven't, then that's what you should do first), then the best thing to do is find a way to watch your target market work in their native environment. This is ideal, but can be hard to swing.
For instance, if your target is narrow enough, you could land a short-term contract gig with a company that fits it, then you'll learn first-hand how things really work and what the pain points are. A bonus to doing that is that it adheres to another principle I believe in -- to the greatest degree possible, each of your activities should generate income in at least two different ways. In this case, you'd get a paycheck as well as free market research.
There are other methods, too. For instance, take members of your target market out to lunch and talk shop. Don't try to sell them on anything at all -- in fact, don't talk about your product. Instead, get them talking about their daily work routine. They may not open up at first, but they'll probably start telling you valuable things on the second or third lunch, or after a cocktail.
Asking people how they work in real life is not usually that productive. People often don't really know how they work -- they just work -- and will tell you what they think that they do rather than what they really do.
If you have identified a target market (and if you haven't, then that's what you should do first), then the best thing to do is find a way to watch your target market work in their native environment. This is ideal, but can be hard to swing.
For instance, if your target is narrow enough, you could land a short-term contract gig with a company that fits it, then you'll learn first-hand how things really work and what the pain points are. A bonus to doing that is that it adheres to another principle I believe in -- to the greatest degree possible, each of your activities should generate income in at least two different ways. In this case, you'd get a paycheck as well as free market research.
There are other methods, too. For instance, take members of your target market out to lunch and talk shop. Don't try to sell them on anything at all -- in fact, don't talk about your product. Instead, get them talking about their daily work routine. They may not open up at first, but they'll probably start telling you valuable things on the second or third lunch, or after a cocktail.