Love it Jeroen. I am in the process of running a second pilot after having done one which did not go excellent, but was in the ballpark. They were still impressed, but in my opinion the product is not there yet.
This specific client has been spending loads of time on ideation, co-creation and feedback rounds. It feels unfair, after the time and investment that goes with that, to ask them for a price. They consider themselves an ambassador as well and have led to other leads.
How would you approach this situation? Would you move forward with a paid pilot? Would you do this second pilot paid or try to nail a free one first before proceding? The more time I spend with the potential customer, the more it feels like their time spent is them paying me.
Great question. For future clients, be upfront about this. Be explicit in: normally this would cost X, but because you are so active and I'm still developing, I'm giving you a discount for this pilot. For future pilots I might need to go up in price to cover costs.
You make this same argument for your current client.
"Thanks for helping so much. Based on your feedback, I feel that we already did quite something you were happy with. I am confident the next pilot will be at a serious level. Would you like to do that?"
If yes:
"As the product is exiting the alpha phase and my costs are accumulating, I can't offer you this next pilot at this alpha price I charged before. But, as I do value your feedback and time I spend, for one last pilot I give you a 25% discount on the full price that I will be charging to other customers right now"
Something among those lines. If they value your outcome, they should be willing to pay. Initially they do spend time on you, but you can't pay your rent with time.
That is great advice, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll take some of this to my next calls.
It's always a hard question to ask, especially because the confidence has to be there. I guess that's part of the entrepreneurial confidence. Thank you!
I even think product market fit isn't covered enough by product newsletters so I'm always glad to see it.
Love it Jeroen. I am in the process of running a second pilot after having done one which did not go excellent, but was in the ballpark. They were still impressed, but in my opinion the product is not there yet.
This specific client has been spending loads of time on ideation, co-creation and feedback rounds. It feels unfair, after the time and investment that goes with that, to ask them for a price. They consider themselves an ambassador as well and have led to other leads.
How would you approach this situation? Would you move forward with a paid pilot? Would you do this second pilot paid or try to nail a free one first before proceding? The more time I spend with the potential customer, the more it feels like their time spent is them paying me.
Great question. For future clients, be upfront about this. Be explicit in: normally this would cost X, but because you are so active and I'm still developing, I'm giving you a discount for this pilot. For future pilots I might need to go up in price to cover costs.
You make this same argument for your current client.
"Thanks for helping so much. Based on your feedback, I feel that we already did quite something you were happy with. I am confident the next pilot will be at a serious level. Would you like to do that?"
If yes:
"As the product is exiting the alpha phase and my costs are accumulating, I can't offer you this next pilot at this alpha price I charged before. But, as I do value your feedback and time I spend, for one last pilot I give you a 25% discount on the full price that I will be charging to other customers right now"
Something among those lines. If they value your outcome, they should be willing to pay. Initially they do spend time on you, but you can't pay your rent with time.
That is great advice, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'll take some of this to my next calls.
It's always a hard question to ask, especially because the confidence has to be there. I guess that's part of the entrepreneurial confidence. Thank you!
good guide for founders to read
This is great.