Cold calling does not work during, customer development process, so what does wo

rk?
2 Replies
As many entrepreneurs start their customer development workshops at their accele
rator programs, they quickly realize that Cold calling potential users to get feed
back does not work, any more especially for B2B users. In 99% of the cases, most
of our participants at the Microsoft Accelerator found out that they got voicem
ail, with no responses, over the last 4 cohorts.
Most accelerator programs tell you to call potential users, who are not your frie
nds and family to prevent many cognitive biases. The first couple of weeks is spe
nt by most entrepreneurs trying to identify potential users and spending time tr
ying to get them to validate the problem. This is the most uncomfortable time fo
r most entrepreneurs.
It is an absolutely important part of the development of your company, but the c
aveat is that many entrepreneurs find out that cold calling does not work any mo
re. Most Americans are unlikely to pick up the phone from unrecognized numbers.
In fact, when you try to do it in B2B situations, and call the potential user s wo
rk number, at their desk, it is worse. The number of times you go directly to vo
icemail is about 999 out of 1000. Smile and Dial is truly the most frustrating par
t of your customer development.
The situation is so bad that many entrepreneurs sometimes falsely believe after
their customer development phase that no one truly has the problem.
Most people dont want to be interrupted, and dislike having a synchronous discus
sion with a stranger.
So, what are the alternatives to cold calling and what can you change.
First, you can change the interruption and align it with their routine, then you c
an remove the synchronous portion and make it asynchronous and third you can change
the stranger to acquaintance.
1. To remove the interruption, the best is to put your feedback gathering into t
he flow of the problem. So, like native ads, you have to insert yourself into th
e normal course of the problem surfacing for your users. The best way to start t
his effort is to do a Day in the life scenario mapping of your potential user. I w
ould typically do it in 30 min increments.
Find out when the problem surfaces and what the Triggers are for users. What I hav
e found is that you can leverage moments of downtime to target your message and
bring out the pain. For example if you are selling keyword optimization services
to SEO marketers, answer questions on Quora or LinkedIn Groups about these ser
vices so they are aware of the problem. Or ask a question on an active forum (so
mething WhatsApp did) about the problem you are trying to tackle.
2. Email seems to work, to make the conversation asynchronous. If targeted, spec
ific and brings value to your user before you make the request or have a call to
action, it is powerful. Typically you d want the email to be highly personalized
(look at the users recent Twitter or social media feed) to start the conversatio
n with highly relevant topical points, before asking for advice.

3. To remove the stranger problem, dig your well before you are thirsty. In fact
, use social media (Twitter and LinkedIn groups work very well, as do Quora and
SlideShare) to build acquaintance relationships well before you need them.
Finally, make it easy for people to give you feedback. Before they are willing t
o commit time to giving you feedback make them believe they will get value from
your interaction as well.
I d love to know what s worked for you. Drop me a note on Twitter, if you have found
a better way to engage users during customer development.