Be A Painkiller, Not A Vitamin

This is the Unbreakable Business newsletter - created just for founders and operators who want to build a software company that won’t fall apart.

This week, we’re talking about how to read minds.

Alright, not exactly - but that’s how I want your customers to feel.

And believe me, I’ve got some scars around this one…

MV

💊 Be A Painkiller - Not A Vitamin

When I built my first company, I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing. I had no idea how to do customer development properly, and the only thing that got us through was that we worked super hard, stayed flexible, and listened to our users.

But despite that - we left a TON of opportunity on the table by not investing enough into the skills that I’m going to talk about today.

I still think about this frequently - there’s one product decision that I should have made that likely would have tripled our business.

But I didn’t make it - because I thought I knew better than our users, and I held tightly to that belief even when our users were telling us otherwise.

Some mistakes are expensive - that was one of them.

But once I realized what I did, I vowed never to do it again, and went deep down the rabbit hole on how to make sure I didn’t commit the cardinal sin of product management: building something that nobody wants.

“When you can explain your customers’ problems better than they do, you win.”

The first time that Dan Martell said this to me on a call…it hit like a ton of bricks. Because I knew I couldn’t do it 😂 

🔮 How To Become A Mind Reader

Marketing and product management aren’t really about marketing and product management - they’re about human beings who have unmet needs, and the psychology around getting those needs met.

Think about how people behave - in any situation, they move AWAY from the things that frustrate them, and TOWARD the things they want.

But that’s just the surface level - and where most marketers and product people stop.

“My customer wants XYZ outcome. I built a feature that does it for them. If I tell them about it…next stop, Profit City”

(if only it was actually that simple)

Buying is an emotional decision, not a logical one. And when you have users, they’ll keep coming back because of the way they FEEL when you solve their problem…not just for the features themselves.

So if we’re really going to get inside someones brain, we’ve gotta transcend the surface level stuff.

The things that frustrate them, and the things they want instead, are just table stakes.

START DIGGING.

Beneath every frustration is a fear. Something that they’re truly scared of. In their hearts, in their minds, that keeps them up at night.

Beneath every want is an aspiration. They see the type of person they want to be, the impact they want to create, the goal they have that’s so scary and ambitious that they get nervous saying it out loud.

Your job is to dig.

This is how I map it out ⬇️

Fill this out top to bottom - the top half will come easy, and the bottom half will take some real soul searching.

But once you’ve done this work, and validated it with your customers, you’ll know exactly what to build - and exactly what to talk about in the market.

🥵 The Hot Button Issues

From this quadrant, your job is to identify the five biggest “Hot Button Issues” that your customer experiences. The fears that are most painful. The aspirations that make them shake in their boots. The things that keep them up at night. The stuff they type into the google search bar when they can’t sleep.

Those Hot Button Issues are what you build your message around.

A few ways I’ve used them:

1. Make sure you have a key benefit and feature for each of the Hot Buttons - so you know exactly what to show during a product demo or support interaction.

2. Create a lead magnet around each Hot Button and drive traffic to it - because if it’s done right, your ideal customers will ALL want to read it.

3. Create content (videos, articles, etc) around topics that lead up to the Hot Button - and use that to help hone your messaging.

Everything you say and everything you build should be centered around curing the top 5 most painful issues that your customer experiences - because if you get them out of pain, your business will grow - without a doubt.

So until next week…spend a little time thinking about this.

Do you know what your customer REALLY fears and aspires to?

How do you know you’re right? Have you validated it with actual customers and leads?

Do you talk about those issues in the market?

Do you create content about them?

Does your software and/or service actually cure them?

If not - you know what’s next: GO TALK TO CUSTOMERS ❤️

✌️ MV

📽️ This Week On The SaaS Academy Pod

This week’s episode is all about content 🔥

I 100% believe that if you’re a founder, you should be putting out your own content.

Kinda scary, right? I get it - I hovered over the button for years before I finally started putting my thoughts out into the ether (like this newsletter 😉).

Sharing your POV will connect you directly to the humans behind the businesses you want to sell to. Rally those people behind your mission and show them that you have the solutions to their problems 💪

Add this episode to your queue and let me know what you think!