Dharmesh Shah shares five principles that drove HubSpot to $30 billion: get permission before contacting people (85% hate unsolicited outreach), solve for customer success not internal process, own mistakes, be transparent with pricing, and make cancellation easy. Doing right by customers creates a flywheel that sustains growth.
Chapters
How do you grow better? I'm going to share the top 5 with you, the things that I think would be most impactful for you to take back to your business. Number 1, earn my attention, don't steal it. People have pushed back on this use of the word stealing because it's a little harsh, but it's like, okay, well, what word would you use when someone takes something that you value from you without your permission and doesn't give you anything in return? When we surveyed people, 85% said they think less of a company that reaches out to them without getting permission. The point here is the worst-case scenario is not, oh well, we did that and it didn't work and we got zero return. That's not the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is you damage your brand, you dig yourself into a hole, and companies that may have bought from you in the future are now less likely to do so. So when you do this permission-free outreach, it's like applying force to the flywheel, but in the wrong direction. Number 2, solve for my success, not your systems. Don't make your process my problem. If a customer wants to skip all the steps and just give you money, let them. Number 3, own your screw-ups. We all make mistakes. Just say sorry, be sorry, and make it better. Number 4, I don't mind paying, but I do mind being played. Make your pricing open, make it clear, and make it fair. Kept coming back from customers, kept coming back in the data. Number 5, Don't block the exit. You made it so easy to buy, don't make it so hard to cancel. Here's the idea. What if we started putting up a cancel now with one-click button? Do we think that if our companies built a reputation for being easy to break up with, easy to cancel, that more people would buy from us? I think so. There's precedent in the retail sector. Zappos, Nordstrom, lots of— it's like if you make it easy for people to refund or cancel, you get more sales. So we've all had these moments faced with a tough choice and we make the right choice. We do the right thing for the customer. It feels good. It doesn't just feel good, it doesn't just feel better, you actually do better. We need more of those moments because if you put all those moments together where you do the right thing for the customer, all those moments together is what creates delighted customers. And customer love is the most powerful force you can apply to your flywheel. That's how you grow better. Thank you.
