…Hey everybody. How you doing? It is Pierre Hulsebus. And we're doing a book review today. welcome to the Technical Solar podcast, and we're gonna break down the best strategies…
and tools and insights, for modern technical sellers. And today, what we're doing is we're going to talk about the book. This is so this is my book review, and book club Welcome to the book club. And let's dry dive into lessons from the book the lean startup by Eric Rice and how we can apply that to our work as technology sellers. a few years ago I read that book the lean startup by Eric Rice It's a book that really opens your eyes to a fundamental approach It's been around for a little bit.
And it's something that we love to use when I was with Microsoft for lots of different projects The framework is what's really important here So This is something that applies to our startups but it's really also something that can apply to sales It's really called build measure…learn And that is a feedback loop process. And you know in the fast paced world of business starting a project is tough sometimes So stay relevant means that we constantly…
need to generate new ideas for how we sell, iterating and refining them and that's exactly what this book teaches. As a technical seller this is the mindset, here and that is essential. You're not just selling a solution Of course you're helping your clients improve their strategies, their business strategies and embrace the latest technology trends to meet their goals So applying the principle from lean startup you can guide your customer through a digital transformation process more effectively and not just
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positioned to selling a product off a line card. this is where we can add value. Now the build measure learn feedback loop is the core of this system That again it's called build measure, learn feedback loop It's a process that revolves around rapid iteration. And so here's how it works First we identify a market opportunity or challenge…
that then we develop a hypothesis to address that challenge in the in the in the product stack that we have And number three as we create then a minimum viable product or a solution
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And this is the key It's not about perfection, but speed. Get that MVP into your customer's hands as quickly as possible. We talk about this as time to value. So if you read through my stuff we talk about time to value all the time There's a big benefit for being, quick and helping your customer find the fastest way they can get from I investing in your solution to I'm realizing value. That Delta in time is worth a lot of money.
So we wanna then number four measure the feedback from users and get their feedback How are we doing Analyze the data Number five does it validate or refute the high
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hypothesis Are we slouching towards perfection? Are we getting the value that we thought? and then we learn from that data and adjust based on the insights that we've gathered. And so there's a couple cool parts about this. as a technology salesperson that you're doing is you're creating value for the customer way before they buy anything And you're
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delivering that value in ideas, and you're creating trust with them, by having them buy into those ideas or iterate around those ideas And and you're having a completely different conversation than the competitors are, This is a key differentiator when you take an approach like this. this loop allows you to constantly refine your offering, and you're making data driven decisions that help you stay ahead of your competitors So As a technology seller the ability to constantly adapt and improve the solution that we offer helps us deliver stronger and more tailored results with customers So what is the power of an MVP in technical sales
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Well
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Let's talk about the MVP for a minute. As technical sellers we sometimes fall into this trap of just trying to present a fully baked solution Like if you're in a mature let's say technology space that is machine manufacturing or machines that go into manufacturing…process, that might maybe be a mature solution. And we're trying to sell the full solution and sometimes that is exactly what you wanna do So if you're in that part of the…
industry, selling very mature solutions to very mature customers, then this process might not be for you or think about this as an alternative position as you're trying to grow into your most growable customers. So you're launching something earlier you're gathering feedback and improving it from there This process minimizes…risks and maximizes value for the customer. So if we think about this from a customer's viewpoint we talk about both business and business decision makers and technical decision makers there might be risk associated with change There always is. So if you're coming in as a change agent that MVP solution is a small scale version that addresses…
core needs. And the clients can test it out provide feedback. And from there you learn and you iterate to improve the solution. Now this strategy builds trust It allows you also to make faster decisions as a customer…
and refine the offering based on the actual value that's delivered in the user data that you get back Now the what are the challenges though with this model There are some challenges you know, I have my opinions. there's been a lot of a pit different opinions on this book it's been around as I mentioned for a little while and it's made a big impact in the software industry. But as usual the lean startup isn't without challenges. Some of the criticisms, that have come up and that I have that we wanna keep in mind One is it is an over the book itself oversimplifies a complex business problem Not every industry or product as I said can easily be
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test did with an MVP especially when the costs of deployment are high or there's long lead times that are involved in investment. So that's a challenge If we over focus on tech which this book is about primarily technology startups…
It emphasizes tech startups It leaves out industries like manufacturing or service that re might require a completely different approach. And the other risk which is a big one, releasing unfinished products Now this gets into expectation setting with the customer and your team but sometimes the MVP approach leads businesses to release under developed products resulting in a poor customer experiences
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these are important considerations when applying this build measure learn process While it's a great model it doesn't always fit into every industry scenario Now this what it means for you
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a technical seller Despite these challenges, there's so much value to be gained by adopting that lean startup approach, as a technical seller So even if the solution we sell is more complicated or long term as I mentioned there's ways…
to…
to, leverage this model the principle of constant iteration and data driven decision making and customer feedback all of that still applies You know by guiding our clients
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through process We help them avoid wasting resources, and instead focus on delivering that incremental value Now this first deal may be small but that's the idea continuous improvement in the value proposition growing scope
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in that value, well that makes it hard for competitors to break in because not only are your customers already buying your stuff, they're already realizing value in it already. And they're that that that is hard to beat. Is value. So here's my final thoughts in conclusion. the lean startup provides some incredible insights for us as technical sellers by leveraging this build measure, learn feedback loop we can continuously improve the value we provide to our clients and stay ahead of trends and build those long lasting relationships.
So just remember to adopt these principles to fit into your the unique needs of your customer
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And your industry. the ultimate goal is to create a solution set that not only meets their immediate needs but positions you for long term success at that customer. So with that said I wanna thank you for tuning in today to this book review and podcast And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. Go see us at tech sales one ten dot com You can join the community and tips and tricks subscribe, to the podcast I appreciate it My name again, Pierre Holce of us, and I will see you next time Let's keep selling smarter…
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