Smart Startup – Smart Up

Chapter 8: The First Customer

Your first customers will have a direct impact on your business model,

because customers are extremely important

and customers first are even more important.

There is a very good saying of a successful businessman:

“A business is fine without anything,

but without customers,

it will die”.

So solving the customer problem is really a very important story.

The first customers are even more important.

And if you can handle this,

then basically every other part of the business will follow suit.

Confused about finding your first customers?

Wondering where to find your first customers?

Wondering how to generate the first customers

to use your product/service?

And there are many other concerns

that will make you even more headache about this first customer.

Who are they?

Where?

Doing what?

How to get those first customers?

Here are some suggested first customer questions:

1. Who has the most faith in you?

The first customers are your close friends,

and ask your close friends to refer their friends.

You will find your first customers from there,

because they buy your product simply

because they trust you,

not necessarily your product.

Explore your list of close friends.

Maybe this is a hidden place of gold

that you should exploit in the first place.

2. Who has had the opportunity to work with you?

(However, you need to remember:

never introduce to colleagues,

customers,

former boss products/services

that directly compete with the old company’s products/services.

This is taboo.)

If you have worked

and joined one or several companies before,

this is an advantage when starting a business,

because the people who have a business relationship

with you can be your first customers in this startup.

Relationships from your old company will help

you accelerate the growth of your product in the early stages

if you invite the boss or employee of the old company

to be your first customers.

3. What activities are you/your co-founder participating in?

Community relationship is an advantage.

Because if you are already a member of a certain community,

it means that you have gained the trust of a certain association

and also the people in that association.

It is a favorable opportunity for you

to introduce your products

and they are the first customers.

They use the product

because they trust you more than the product,

but isn’t that good too?

Commercial organizations are even more amazing,

because they are people

who have a pretty good perception of business

as well as the value that business brings to society.

Invite them to use the product to be the first customer.

4. What business cards do you store in the past?

During the time of building

and maintaining relationships,

you have collected a lot of business cards of partners,

friends, colleagues,

suppliers,

customers …

This is the time you should use them.

It is from previous relationships and on the basis of trust

that they are definitely the first supporters

of your product or service,

or at least they give suggestions

and feedback actively for you to improve

and enhance the quality of your product or service.

Many people have a habit of waiting

until they have a job to “reheat” the relationship

and this often “displeases” their friends.

Experience has shown that you should regularly contact people

for whom you have business cards.

Especially, nowadays,

with the support of information technology,

this is extremely easy and convenient.

Our forefathers have a saying:

“Rich for your friends, rich for your wife”.

Always keep this in mind

and apply it intelligently to life

and other business matters.

5. Who/where can customers try your products/services?

You need to clearly define the audience

and the place so that customers can try your products and services.

This trial is very important,

especially with products

that are first on the market and are educational.

Remember and always set aside an initial budget

and resources to do this.

You now have a list of potential customers.

So how do you approach this list

and attract the first customers?

Here are a few helpful ways you can get started:

– Send emails to introduce your products/services,

provide detailed information about their differences,

outstanding features and exclusive offers.

– Make a phone call to introduce your product/service

and make an appointment

so you can present your product/service in person.

Remember that direct communication

It is always the most effective way of communication.

When you have the opportunity

to meet potential customers face-to-face,

do not miss the opportunity.

The rest depends on you.

– Build a trial program

so that potential customers can experience

your products/services.

You know, all of us are afraid

to use a new product/service.

So let them experience your product/service!

Running a trial program

with the best cost is your way to survive.

With the above measures,

you will surely find your first customer.

Creating the first customer is an important step,

forming the next more solid steps for the business.

The early days of starting a business are extremely difficult,

but if you get the first customers

to believe in your product,

you are considered to have succeeded half of your career.

The other half is whether you are determined to follow

through with the business model you choose or not?

Start-up entrepreneurs need to have the spirit of “Pay it forward”.

The fact that businesses want to have

first customers requires entrepreneurs

or businesses to give a lot,

to receive nods of agreement

to be the first to use the product / service,

and to give feedback return for the product/service in the first time.

Give to get more is one of the important messages

that the author of this book wants to share

with entrepreneurs to get the first customer,

because no customer wants

to be ” guinea pig” or reluctant “test subject”.

The successful person is not the stronger,

nor the smarter person,

but the person

who believes that he is a successful person

and goes to the end of the road no matter how many failures

he has to go through.

“I believe that after pondering the stories the author gives in this book,

you will see that success in entrepreneurship does not come from genius or luck,

but instead a series of scientific knowledge

and processes have been summarized for everyone to follow,

especially those who are cherishing a passion

and desire to turn their passions and dreams into reality.”