StartUp Founders: Convert Your Customers Into Partners & Advocates

As a startup founder, the quickest way to accelerate your sales process is to convert your customers into partners. And what I mean by that is a partner is a customer that has a vested interest in your success, wants you to succeed, and will do and go above and beyond to make that happen. Testimonials, references, case studies. Be on your podcast, they'll be an advocate for you. And you should be doing both of these things anyway. But number one is obvious, which is have a great product. Build a relationship with your early customers so that you can make the asks. You've built enough goodwill with them. The second thing you can do, and you should be doing anyway, is consistently talking to them about your product, around the value, how they're using it, where they see the opportunity, what you can be doing better and the quicker. You can take kind of their feedback, especially when you know it's right and convert that into something, into your product, your operations or your process, and they can see a tangible kind of direct line between feedback they've given and your product. Suddenly they will feel deeply vested in your journey and become part to you. Good luck.