企業(yè)家內(nèi)部網(wǎng)絡(luò)是一個(gè)在線社區(qū),美國(guó)創(chuàng)業(yè)公司中最有思想、最具影響力的商界人士將在此回答關(guān)于企業(yè)家與職業(yè)生涯的問(wèn)題。今天我們的問(wèn)題是:“在開(kāi)公司之前,你希望自己了解哪些事情?”回答者是Bluecore公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人及首席執(zhí)行官法耶茲·默罕默德。 一些企業(yè)家認(rèn)為,應(yīng)對(duì)難纏的客戶耗時(shí)太多。他們會(huì)錯(cuò)誤地應(yīng)用80-20法則,試圖拋下給他們帶來(lái)80%麻煩的20%顧客。這是個(gè)巨大的誤區(qū)。我希望當(dāng)時(shí)在建立Bluecore之前,自己能夠知道:那些最具懷疑精神、要求最苛刻的客戶將成為我們最佳的擁護(hù)者。 那些喜歡聽(tīng)好話的企業(yè)家可能難以理解這種對(duì)難纏客戶的贊美。在創(chuàng)業(yè)之初,尋找認(rèn)同的感覺(jué)很棒,對(duì)吧?你吸引了一些潛在客戶,他們說(shuō):“啊,這個(gè)點(diǎn)子真不錯(cuò)!”你想要忘掉那些唱反調(diào)的人,因?yàn)槟惚仨氉呱险?。不過(guò)糟糕的是,那些光說(shuō)好話的顧客不會(huì)在六個(gè)月以后購(gòu)買(mǎi)你的產(chǎn)品。他們只是表現(xiàn)得很友善,就像卡羅爾嬸嬸說(shuō)的:“寶貝,我喜歡你這個(gè)創(chuàng)業(yè)公司的想法!不過(guò)還想來(lái)些蛋酒嗎?” 在2013年建立Bluecore平臺(tái)之前,我有幸與一位被稱作“杰克”的數(shù)字營(yíng)銷商見(jiàn)過(guò)一面。他為一家戶外零售商工作,見(jiàn)我是因?yàn)樗麑?duì)觸發(fā)式郵件技術(shù)很有想法。我介紹了一下我們的計(jì)劃。杰克大致的意思是,想法很棒,但我們還得另外開(kāi)發(fā)兩個(gè)核心功能,他才會(huì)購(gòu)買(mǎi)我們的產(chǎn)品。 四個(gè)月后,我?guī)е覀兊耐瓿善吩偃フ医芸耍匀徊粔蚝?。杰克提出了更多要求。與此同時(shí),我們與第一批10名客戶簽約了。我想:“他們都喜歡這個(gè)產(chǎn)品,我還需要去迎合杰克的需求嗎?” 我十分看重杰克的想法,以至于無(wú)法忽略它。他的要求很高,想法也很獨(dú)特。我們持續(xù)為杰克的想法完善產(chǎn)品,最終讓他成為了我們的客戶。他迫使我們做出了一款比原來(lái)好得多的產(chǎn)品。 這段經(jīng)歷讓我意識(shí)到初創(chuàng)公司就像中學(xué)生:他們需要至少一名嚴(yán)厲的老師來(lái)督促他們成長(zhǎng)。這名老師不會(huì)說(shuō)那些空洞的鼓勵(lì),而是提出批評(píng),打出很低的分?jǐn)?shù)。學(xué)生們覺(jué)得老師一定是討厭他們,而實(shí)際上老師只是希望他們提高。許多學(xué)生認(rèn)為老師不公平,但也有少數(shù)人會(huì)利用這些批評(píng)來(lái)提升自我。后面這些人無(wú)論做什么,都會(huì)成為佼佼者。 拒絕最苛求的客戶是很危險(xiǎn)的事情。十個(gè)月前,我?guī)缀蹙头抛吡诉@樣一家客戶,因?yàn)閷?shí)現(xiàn)要求的成本太高。這家客戶是股份經(jīng)濟(jì)公司,他們不斷提出要求,希望我們盡管做出產(chǎn)品細(xì)分。我們有點(diǎn)受不了了,不過(guò)隨后就意識(shí)到他們的要求是完全正確的。我們做了產(chǎn)品細(xì)分,這家公司則用我們的平臺(tái)替換了他們的整個(gè)營(yíng)銷產(chǎn)品。現(xiàn)在想想還覺(jué)得有些可怕,我們差點(diǎn)放棄了一家客戶,而這家客戶的反饋?zhàn)屛覀冮_(kāi)發(fā)出了一款貢獻(xiàn)2016年一半營(yíng)收的產(chǎn)品。 你也許認(rèn)為那些多疑又難纏的客戶會(huì)抓住一切機(jī)會(huì)抨擊你。不是的。當(dāng)我們今年進(jìn)行B輪融資時(shí),一名投資者要求與我們最難纏的客戶——一家《財(cái)富》美國(guó)500強(qiáng)的服裝市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷公司對(duì)話。我本以為我們一定會(huì)失去這位投資者,不過(guò)我還是引薦了他們。這家營(yíng)銷公司給了我們收到過(guò)的最強(qiáng)有力的推薦。沒(méi)錯(cuò),她也提到了我們的缺點(diǎn),不過(guò)這才讓她的推薦如此可信和有效。那位投資者加入了我們的B輪融資。 關(guān)鍵點(diǎn)在于:不要把批評(píng)和失望混為一談??蛻艨燎笫且?yàn)樗麄兿胱屇闾峁┮涣鞯漠a(chǎn)品,他們懷疑是因?yàn)樗麄冊(cè)谝饽愕漠a(chǎn)品及其性能。你反倒應(yīng)該提防那些只說(shuō)好話的客戶。 盡管我們?cè)谶^(guò)去兩年中取得了成功,但我還是希望自己在建立Bluecore之前就知道這些。我走向市場(chǎng)的戰(zhàn)略本應(yīng)該是尋找那些最難纏、最具懷疑精神的客戶。我本應(yīng)該更早、更頻繁地參考他們的意見(jiàn),獲得他們的產(chǎn)品開(kāi)發(fā)建議。我本應(yīng)該花更多時(shí)間與杰克這樣能改變我們想法的人交流。 畢竟,生意就是吸引并留住客戶。你最難纏的客戶會(huì)幫助你達(dá)成這兩點(diǎn)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)) 譯者:嚴(yán)匡正 |
The Entrepreneur Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in America’s startup scene contribute answers to timely questions about entrepreneurship and careers. Today’s answer to the question “What’s something you wish you knew before starting your business?” is written by Fayez Mohamood, cofounder and CEO of Bluecore. Some entrepreneurs believe that life is too short to deal with difficult customers. Misapplying the 80-20 rule, they try to dump the 20% of customers who cause 80% of their problems. This is a huge mistake. Before launching Bluecore, I wish I had known that my most skeptical, demanding customers would become our best advocates. This ode to difficult customers may seem counterintuitive to entrepreneurs with “happy ears” syndrome. Early on, it feels good to find validation, right? You pitch some prospective customers and they say, “Wow, that’s a great idea!” Forget the naysayers—you must be on the right track. Too bad those prospects will not buy your product six months later. They’re being nice, just like Aunt Carol who said, “I love your startup idea, honey! Want some more eggnog?” Before building the Bluecore platform in 2013, I had the good fortune to land a meeting with a digital marketer we’ll call “Jake.” He worked for an outdoor retailer and took the meeting because he had strong opinions about triggered email technology. I described what we planned to do. Jake essentially said it was nice, but that we needed two other pieces of core functionality before he’d become our customer. Four months later, I returned to Jake with our complete product, and it still wasn’t good enough. He asked for more. In the meantime, we signed our first 10 customers. “Well they like the product,” I thought to myself. “Should I keep building for Jake?” I valued Jake’s opinion too much to ignore it, because while his demands were tough, his ideas were exceptional. We kept building for him, and eventually Jake did become a customer. He forced us to build a much better product than we would have built otherwise. The experience made me realize that startups are like high school students: They need at least one hard-ass teacher to grow. Instead of spewing half-hearted encouragement, this teacher dishes out critique and lower grades. The students think the teacher must hate them, when in fact he wants them to excel. Many students accuse the teacher of being unfair, but a few use the critique to up their game. Those few become the top performers in whatever they do. It is dangerous to dismiss your most demanding customers. Ten months ago, I almost let go of our most difficult account at the time because it was consuming an inordinate amount of resources. A player in the sharing economy, this customer wanted us to build a segmentation product ASAP—and brought it up constantly. We reached our boiling point, but then recognized that their demand was spot on. We built the segmentation product, and this company replaced its entire marketing stack with our platform. It’s scary to think that we almost fired a customer whose feedback led to a product that will account for half of our revenue in 2016. You might think your skeptical, difficult customers will bash you if they have the chance. Not so. While we were raising our Series B this year, an investor asked to speak with one of our toughest customers, a Fortune 500 clothing marketer. I was certain we’d lose this investor, but I had to make the intro anyway. This marketer gave Bluecore the strongest recommendation we had ever received. Yes, she also talked about our shortcomings, but that’s what made her endorsement so credible and effective. The investor joined our B round. Here’s the key point: Don’t confuse critique with disappointment. Customers are demanding because they want you to deliver at the top of your game, and they’re skeptical because they care about your product and its capabilities. Be wary of the customers who have only nice things to say. Despite our success over the past two years, I wish I had known all of this before launching Bluecore. My go-to market strategy would have been to seek out the most difficult, skeptical customers I could possibly find. I would have turned to them for references and product development feedback early and often. I would have spent more time with people like Jake who could rip our ideas to shreds. Ultimately, business is about attracting and keeping customers. Your toughest critics will help you accomplish both. |