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independence2 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

outcome not stated

confidence

high

evidence

13 claims · 10 articles · 4 receipts

window

2016-04-23 → 2020-06-07

2 builders who never spoke to each other

Choose customers you can stand for years

The job includes answering these people's email, sitting in their conference halls and hearing their complaints for years, so contempt for the market leaks into everything however good the craft is. If you would not choose to spend time with them now, the commercial case will not carry you.

The method

  1. 01

    Before choosing a market, ask whether you want to serve these people for years - you will be answering their support email, hanging around them for research, and going to their tradeshows and phoning them for sales.

  2. 02

    Choose a market whose people you actually enjoy, because the job includes answering their email, fixing their bugs and resetting their passwords for years.

  3. 03

    Before committing to a niche, check that you would be content dealing with these particular people every working day for years.

  4. 04

    Don't pick a lucrative-sounding audience you have no shared ground with; ask what you could credibly say to them and whether you'd enjoy serving them.

  5. 05

    If you do not already attend that market's conferences, trade shows and meetups by choice, do not choose them - you will be writing weekly posts for them and clearing 20 support emails a morning.

What it returned

  • Peldi asked Patrick McKenzie whether optimising dentists' office schedules was his passion; when the answer was no, he asked why Patrick was committing years to it.

  • Amy Hoy's line about not opening an Irish pub if you can't stand drunk frat boys.

  • The recurring bad example: a programmer deciding to target real estate agents.

  • Justin's developer friend wanted to build for real estate agents but had never been to a single real estate event.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.

More in positioning

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.