So you've used your value proposition canvas
to document those hypotheses those
critical assumptions that underlie
your value proposition.
That's great.
The next step of course is to go
test those hypotheses.
By the end of this video you'll understand
and know how to avoid the five
most common mistakes I've seen entrepreneurs
make when they go out to test
their value proposition candidates.
So a quick reminder why test
the value proposition.
Well it is after all the reason
you captured all these hypotheses in the first
place is to go test them to make sure
that they're right.
You're making a lot of assumptions
a lot of hypotheses.
You believe you understand what the job is
to be done from the customer's point of view.
You believe you understand what the pain
is they're trying to avoid
with the gain is that they're trying to
attain.
You make assumptions that your product
is delivering the right feature set
to deliver on the job to be done
and to deliver on the game
that the customer wants
and to deliver the pain relief the customer
wants.
But you're making even more assumptions that.
You believe that the customer isn't happy
with what is out there today
and you think you understand why.
You think that your solution will fit
into the customer's workflow.
You think that your pricing will be the
right pricing for the customer
and you think that your messaging the way that
you talk about the problem
and the solution will actually resonate
with customers.
Again that's a lot of assumptions.
The problem is not all those assumptions
will be right.
The only way to find out is to go
out and test those assumptions.
So how do you do that.
How do you test your assumptions your hypotheses
that underlie your value proposition.
Well as Steve Blank would say get
out of the building
and talk to customers.
So let's start with the most common mistake
which is to not do it at all to not actually
get out of the building
and go talk to customers.
You've captured all these assumptions
or hypotheses the canvas.
You can get so confident that
you're ready to charge ahead
and develop the product.
Or maybe you already started developing
the product. And then after
the fact you have developed your hypotheses
and your canvas.
Well either way take
the time to stop
and get out
and talk to customers to test those
hypotheses.
You'll be much more likely to build a
product that people want to buy.
If you take the time to test
the value proposition.
Common mistake number two is
to take positive feedback
as being validation of your value
proposition.
A lot of people might tell you hey that's
a great idea.
I'm sure a lot of people have that problem
and I'm sure a lot of people will
buy that. I think you should definitely go
develop that product.
It sounds great.
Well that sounded positive didn't it.
But it didn't sound like a customer
because they didn't say hey I
have that problem
and you really understand the
frustration I have.
I really like try your solution.
Is it available now?
Can I test it? Can I buy it?
If it's going into beta test I'd love to
be a beta test customer.
Those sound like buying sites.
That sounds like somebody who's actually
got a problem that you're trying to solve.
Who has the pain
or isn't realizing again that they
liked you.
And that's what you're looking for.
It's too easy for people to just listen
to your idea
and intellectually say hey that makes less
sense. It sounds like a great idea.
But that's not good enough.
You're looking for people who have the problem
who want to buy a better solution
than they have today.
So don't settle for just
positive feedback.
Look for customers who actually
want to buy a better solution.
Common mistake number three is not
talking to enough customers.
To validate your value proposition.
You need to talk to more than just two
or three of your best friends.
Again you're looking for customers
not just necessarily your best friends
and you'd really like to talk to
quite a few more than two
or three. So how many should you talk to.
It gets into kind of an arbitrary number.
There is no one right answer
but I'd suggest talking to at least
30 customers
and more than that is even better.
Now even 30 from a statistical
point of view. It's a pretty small sample
but if you talk to 30 prospective
customers you'll learn a lot
and you'll probably come up
with some different ideas about
what the problem is
and what the solution should look like
so be sure you take the time to talk
to enough customers.
Mistake Number 4 is talking to customers
but starting by talking about your product
instead of talking about the customers
perspective in other words what
the job is to be done.
What's the pain
and what's the game
if you start talking about your product
at the beginning of the discussion it really
focuses the whole discussion on
your product.
You're missing the opportunity to
really understand from a customer's
perspective what is the problem.
I mean what is it about the job that
isn't getting done?
What is it that's not
being realized in terms of gain?
What is it that causes the pain?
Those are important things to talk about.
So when you talk to those 30 customers,
focus on
the job the pain
and the game
and once you really think you understand that
- you've talked to enough customers,
your confidence is high
that you understand their perspective
- then you can go back
and test your product.
And again as I suggested before
if you talk about the job the pain
and the game enough to enough
customers your idea of the solution will
probably change.
So test your product second.
Make sure first you understand
the job the pain
and the gain.
Mistake number five is not doing
the interviews in person.
The interviews involve asking probing
questions.
You're really assuming that you're not really
sure of all the right questions to ask.
So what you want to do is be
in person so you can start
with a beginning set of questions
but then listen to what the customer prospect
says
and follow up
with additional probing questions.
Now you can't do that by posting
a questionnaire on the Internet.
You can maybe approach it if you
do the interviews say via
a video call.
It's a little harder to do it by telephone.
The thing you miss out
with telephone is your not being
able to see body language
and body language can tell you a lot
about how a customer really feels
about whatever the topic is you're exploring.
So watch body language
and remember to listen you should
probably be listening more
than you're talking listening to
the customer responses.
So to sum up take the time
to test certainly don't skip this
process. Get out of the building
and talk to customers
and remember just getting feedback about
what a great idea.
It sounds like it's not enough.
You're looking for buying signs you're looking for
real potential customers
and be sure that you talked to enough
customers again I'd suggest 30
and more than 30 certainly even
better. Do in person interviews
make it probing ask follow up questions.
You'll learn more that way.
And start
with talking about the job to be done
the pain and gain. Don't bring your product out
front and center when you start
these initial interviews.
Really want to understand the customer perspective
first on how they look
at the problem the pain again
and the job to be done.
That's a wrap for this presentation on a 5
common mistakes that entrepreneurs
make when they're testing their value proposition.
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If you haven't seen some of our other videos
in this sequence on value
proposition and the canvas.
There are some links here on the screen you can
use to take a look at those.
That's it for now.
Thank you for watching.