Product Market Fit for Enterprise Software
How many times have we seen the best product
NOT win? There are examples of the product's usefulness and ample testimony to that effect; nonetheless, it seems like once the product was ready to enter the major leagues, it was blocked from entering the game. The creators of said product don't know what happened. You might have won one of the Four Main Sales Cycles . . . but you didn't win where it mattered most.
Let's just assume for a second that you were the one with the better product. We have seen this so many times and none of us, us included, want to believe it is possible when the better product gets shut out. If you believe this could happen to you, then you have a working theory that something else might be in play. What might that something be?
Saying, "we got outsold" is very abstract. What made Lyndon Baines Johnson an absolute master of the US Senate was that he knew how to navigate a collective decision making process. When you go upmarket, you are endeavoring to navigate something of high complexity (like the US Senate) and you are the freshman congressman. It doesn't matter how good your ideas are if you don't know how to play the game.
With that said, it might be becoming clear that not only is it critical that your product facilitates product market fit but your process also needs to be first rate. Your process must address the landscape and decision making complexity of the prospect you are pursuing. There are ways to do this; while product advantages can be proven during demos and references, process advantages are proven only through sales execution. For example, is there a co-developed (with the customer) business case fundamental to your sales process? Do you sell based on price or value? Do you let the customer's compelling event drive your sales timing, or do you try to drive timing based on price incentives?
These are merely a few examples that distinguish minor league (immature) companies from major league (sophisticated) ones. Major league companies recognize that their sales process is just as important as their product. Smaller companies that realize this fact invest in their sales process so that they can transition to companies with predictable growth and higher exit multiples. If you need sales process help, ask Virtual Dave or email dave@moicpartners.com.
