Which comes first? The chicken or the egg?
Which comes first? The customer or the company?
The title is correct. The question is not “Now that I’m ready, how do I get my first customer?.” The more powerful question is “How do I get a customer first?” The nuance is subtle, but it makes a big difference in how you think about your answer.
When it comes to a product-based and service-based businesses, most people believe in the “build it and they will come model,” which is to:
1. Design a cool product in silo
2. Market (verb) it, and
3. Get a customer
Jay-Z Keeps Flipping The Script
Instead of following the traditional order, Jay-Z:
1. Gets a customer
2. Understands them in a silo & their market (noun)
3. Designs a product or service accordingly
4. Let’s the customer market for him
Example 1. Jay-Z, Magna Carta Holy Grail, & Samsung
Jay-Z just closed a landmark music deal that has turned the industry on its head. During Game 5 of the NBA Finals (Go Heat!), he released the commercial below in partnership with Samsung as a co-promotion for his new album coming out July 4, called Magna Carta Holy Grail, and Samsung’s Galaxy users get a leaked version of the album via an app (so that it can’t keep leaking) 3 days in advance of the official release date. Samsung bought 1 million copies of the album at $5 each instantly grossing Jay-Z $5,000,000 and platinum status (even if The Billboard Charts don’t recognize it). He broke the rules by getting a customer first.
That very same day, Jay-Z went on to tweet “If 1 Million records gets SOLD and billboard doesnt report it, did it happen? Ha. #newrules #magnacartaholygrail Platinum!!! VII IV XIII.”
Some people say he cheated. He didn’t follow the rules. He took a shortcut. That’s not fair. That doesn’t count. Well, $5 million is plenty to count. Rules are made by rulers. Rulers don’t always accurately measure success. The old routes to success are congested and sometimes we have to pave our own road.
NOTE: There is a difference between a customer and consumer
With this particular deal, it is important note the difference between the customer and the consumer. The customer is who pays you. The consumer is who consumes whatever the customer paid for. For instance, let’s take a private high school. For a private high school, the customer is the parents and the consumer is the student. In the Jay-Z deal, the customer is Samsung but the consumer is Samsung Galaxy users and loyal Jay-Z fans. Oftentimes, the customer and the consumer are the same, but not always.
Example 2. Jay-Z, Roc Nation Sports, & Robinson Cano
In April, I wrote about Jay-Z signing Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees to Roc Nation Sports before he even had his sports agent license. He went on to establish relationships with Geno Smith of the New York Jets and Skylar Diggins of the Tulsa Shock. Well, rumor has it that as of yesterday, he is officially licensed to start representing players and Kevin Durant, one of the NBA’s top 3 players, is first in line. But again, before investing in a company (i.e. hiring, branding, office space, lawyer, etc), he got top athletes (in each professional basketball (men & women), football, and baseball) who have long careers ahead of them on board. That’s being strategic.
How I Sold Thousands Of Textbooks Before Writing The Book
Now some of you are thinking, “But that’s Jay-Z.” Well, I’ve done it too…admittedly on a smaller scale…but I’m getting there.
In November of 2010, I created the Career Change Challenge and helped 100s of professionals change careers and/or position themselves for promotions and raises. That program came along with a 60-module workbook to accompany the daily videos and weekly calls.
Fast forward to the summer of 2011, a mentor of mine connected me with a professor at a big public university that was looking for a curriculum to help undergraduates successfully prepare for a marketplace where unemployment and underemployment was in the mid-teens for college graduates. After sending him the workbook from the Career Change Challenge, he asked me if I could customize it for an undergraduate audience. If so, hundreds of students who were required to take the class would almost be guaranteed to buy the book.
So I dedicated two months during the summer of 2011 to rewriting and rebranding the entire curriculum from module 1 to 60 for this specific client. Even if only 50% of the students bought the book, it would be a win. On top of that, I would be positioned for repeat business there and to sell the curriculum to other universities nationwide with similar courses. That book sells more with less effort than The Career Change Challenge.
How You Can Get A Client First
Getting a client first is almost better than getting an investor. With an investor you have to give up part of your company, you still don’t know if demand is there, and the on-the-ground learning isn’t as strong as serving a paying customer.
Every day, dozens of Kickstarter campaigns are breaking the rules by seeking to get customer-investors first rather than investing in the creation of their product first and then trying to get customers later. You can click here to see the most funded Kickstarter campaign by category. I show you this to say, “It’s possible!”
The beautiful thing about consulting and coaching businesses is that they aren’t legitimate businesses until you get your first client. You can have a website, brand, and business cards, but if you don’t have a client, all that means nothing. Since you’re selling your knowledge, presence, insight, and understanding, you don’t have the same startup costs of someone who is opening a cafe or manufacturing a product.
One of my favorite shows in House of Lies. At the end of Season 2, Marty Kaan decides to leave Galweather & Stearn, a management consulting firms, to start his own firm. But before making his power move, he made sure that he closed a deal with Michael Carlson, owner of the Vibrato Casino in Las Vegas, first. Only then did he start looking for office space and a team.
When you’re seeking to get a customer first, here are some things to keep in mind and in hand.
- Always be looking + listening for problems you can solve:
- Have something visual or physical to show:
- Reconsider who your customer is:
- Repurpose what you already have can do for a different problem or market:
Notorious B.I.G. once said, “Mo Money, Mo Problems.” While that may be true, the more problems there are, the more opportunities there are to be a solution and make money.
You remember Show and Tell from kindergarten. Go and Tell would not have been as fun. People like to see and feel things with their own eyes and hands. From there they can see how it could potentially work for them.
Perhaps you have been marketing to kids (your consumer) when your customer is their parents. Or perhaps you’ve been trying to sell to individuals when your buyer is actually organizations. Step back and look at how money actually flows to you for your products and services and from who and see if you can take a more direct path.
I love baking soda because it can be repurposed in so many ways from toothpaste, rash removal, odor removal, bug repellant, acid reducer, toilet cleaner, etc. Perhaps what you offer could be more useful to someone or something you haven’t considered like my book The Innerview (originally The Career Change Challenge Workbook).
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Hustle smarter…
Jullien
