Doing the work

Our CRM says we lose on price. I do not believe it. How do I find the real reason, and what does it say about who we should be selling to?

The short answer

Price is what a buyer says when they do not want to explain the real reason, and reps write it down because it is not their fault. The fix is unglamorous: talk to fifteen or twenty buyers a quarter, wins and losses and the ones who went dark, and have someone who was not on the deal run the conversation so people can be honest. Ask what else they looked at, who else was involved in the decision, and what happened in the two weeks before they decided. Do this for a quarter and you will usually find the losses cluster in one kind of account, which is the most useful ICP data you will ever get, because it tells you who to stop selling to.

Go deeper, your way

3 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 3 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

🎧 Podcast
✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Makhija takes apart the received wisdom that Indian customers will not pay, using real Unicommerce numbers, and is specific about who inside an Indian SMB or enterprise actually approves spend. It is the antidote to defining your ICP as everyone except India.

7 Myths About Selling B2B SaaS In India ft Unicommerce Founder Kapil Makhija

On The Neon Show by Siddhartha Ahluwalia with Kapil Makhija 80 min listen

Open neon.fund →

The same ground, at another level

How who you sell to reads from a different seat.

What is an ICP and how is it different from a persona? People use both words for the same thing. An ICP describes the company you want as a customer: size, industry, what they already use, what has to be true for your product to matter. A perso... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → How do I get the team to actually use the ICP instead of nodding at a slide and then doing what they want? An ICP that lives in a deck is decoration. Make it operational: turn it into fields in the CRM, into the lead scoring, into the list an SDR is allo... Leading a GTM team 4 resources → How do the best companies keep their ICP sharp as they grow instead of letting it blur into everyone? They re-derive it on a schedule from data they already have: which segments renew, which expand, which churn, which cost the most to serve. Then th... How the best do it 4 resources →

Terms in this answer

Customer Relationship Management Ideal Customer Profile

People also ask

What is an ICP and how is it different from a persona? People use both words for the same thing. An ICP describes the company you want as a customer: size, industry, what they already use, what has to be true for your product to matter. A perso... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → We have about fifteen customers and they are all different. How do I find an ICP out of that? Do not look at who bought, look at who is happy. Rank the fifteen by usage and by whether they would be annoyed if you disappeared, then take the t... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → How do I qualify a deal properly instead of just hoping the enthusiastic person can buy? Enthusiasm is not authority. Before you invest another hour, you want four things: a named pain the buyer can quantify, the person who controls the... Doing the work 4 resources → Half my pipeline is outside our ICP because those are the leads that came in. Do I chase them? Chase them to learn, close them only if they close fast. Off-ICP deals are seductive because they are there and someone said yes to a meeting, and ... Doing the work 4 resources → How do I get the team to actually use the ICP instead of nodding at a slide and then doing what they want? An ICP that lives in a deck is decoration. Make it operational: turn it into fields in the CRM, into the lead scoring, into the list an SDR is allo... Leading a GTM team 4 resources → Should we sell to Indian SMBs, Indian enterprises, or skip India and go straight at US buyers? Pick on payback and on where your product is genuinely better, not on prestige. Indian SMB gives volume, fast feedback and brutal price sensitivity... Leading a GTM team 5 resources →

Also in Starting Up

The same ground, over in Understand your customers, our Starting Up track.

How do I talk to customers without them just telling me what I want to hear? Stop pitching and start interrogating their past. Ask about what they actually did last time the problem hit, what it cost them, and what they trie... 24 resources → What is an ideal customer profile and how do I define mine? An ICP is a precise description of the customer who gets the most value from you and gives you the most back, by firmographics, situation, and the ... 2 resources →
eChai Partner Brands