Imagine you locked your luggage and forgot the combination. Most people start with 0-0-0, and go up by one. This is how too many startup CEOs approach sales.
That might work for a luggage lock (so will a screwdriver, btw), but it's not going to work for something more complicated, like a bank safe. Or enterprise sales.
Safe crackers don't start with 000-000-000 and go up. They understand the inner workings of each and every safe and learn how to exploit the vulnerabilities inherent in a specific mechanism.
Maybe they drill. Maybe they use explosives. Maybe they use a stethoscope to listen to the tumblers. No matter what, they bring the right tools for the job, because they understand how the lock operates.
(If it's not obvious by now, everything I know about safe cracking comes from heist movies. But I know a shit-ton about early sales from experience.)
What does it look like when a startup founder starts with 0-0-1 and goes up?
They try to sell to a prospect. Maybe it works. Maybe it doesn't. They do that a few dozen times. Occasionally it works. Mostly it doesn't. They have no idea why. But, hell, 0-0-1 sometimes works so they're going to keep trying.
Eventually, they realize it doesn't work consistently enough, so they try something else. And they don't even try 0-0-2; they try 3-9-7, because someone told them that 3-9-7 once worked for them.
Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn't.
Eventually they have tried a dozen codes and, I don't know, the vault blows up. Or the police come. Pick your metaphor for running out of money.
They never learn how the mechanism works so all they can do is fumble with the tumbler and get frustrated that it doesn't consistently open.
And, man, that suhhhhhks. Because most every founder is working on a ticking clock. They know the police are gonna come or the safe is going to explode.
That pressure drives out their sense of curiosity and replaces is with a need for action. That action makes them feel safe.
It made me feel safe in several of my failed startups.
The most successful founders can tell you how their buyer operates. What drives them. What keeps a deal from closing. What the typical approval process looks like with regards to procurement and security and legal and how to navigate the myriad nos that present themselves. They know how to qualify a prospect and spend little time with those who are never going to say yes.
All of this takes time that most founders believe they don't have.
The successful founder puts aside that fear and stress and goes slow to go fast. They spend less money in the earliest stages by avoiding building solutions they can't sell.
They simply talk to buyers until they learn how the lock works.
PS: If you think I'm writing this about you, I probably am. Because half my clients are struggling with this at any given moment.
Nobody starts a company because they want to be a salesperson. Every successful startup founder invariably becomes a sales expert.
Good luck.