Building CAUSL - Episode 9: The Cinderella of Lead Generation
Bhavik Patel
Product Analytics & Experimentation Director | Community Builder (CRAP Talks) | Keeping it Human
An update on things
Sorry, I know it’s been a few weeks since Episode 8 of the Building CAUSL series. A combination of the Easter break, client work, writing some thought pieces and other priorities left me with zero time to write about what’s going on with CAUSL.
First on the “Building CAUSL” newsletter. I still plan to publish this regularly on LinkedIn and Substack but I’ve been reassessing the content I post and whilst I love writing about CAUSL, I want to spend more time writing thought pieces and doing community related work - for example the tech writing competition I’m running this year.
Why the change? A couple of posts I recently shared reminded me that it’s more important to write about things that pull people into a discussion and get them (and me) thinking instead of spending all of my writing time just providing company updates. My recent post for example on the Region-Beta Paradox generated an amazing discussion and I loved responding to all the feedback. Don’t get me wrong, I know the “Building CAUSL” newsletter has been really well received, especially by people considering or already on a similar journey to me. I just need to balance it with the other things I enjoy.
Chasing leads
To start with I should clarify what I mean when I say lead. The definition I use is an actual call with a person or organisation where the topic of discussion was the services we offer. If a call never took place, I don’t count it as a lead. I could include a chart with all the LinkedIn messages that I’ve sent that didn’t even get a response, but I don’t want to put off anyone who is thinking about starting their own consultancy haha.
Data
I’m sure no one is surprised that I’m monitoring the data closely. As you can see, from the graph below, the cumulative volume of leads is currently up to 15. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but given that we’ve only been live for less than four months and we’re entering a relatively unexplored space, it could be worse.
Lead categories
Unsurprisingly, the majority of leads have been related to our core value proposition which is Product Analytics. But since “diversifying our offering”, we’ve also had a few consulting leads in the Implementation and Fractional Services space. There were a couple of leads in relation to pricing that would have been amazing to work on but sadly they didn’t quite work out.
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The glass slipper
As you may know, we’re currently working with two amazing clients. They are classed under “won”, but that only accounts for 13% of leads. Below you can see the status of the remaining 87%. 5 of the leads are officially “closed”. I like the closed status. There is no ambiguity in it. Both parties know where they stand. For us, the glass slipper just didn’t fit.
Believe it or not, I prefer the “closed” state to the “open” state. Having leads in an open state is like being in a perpetual state of anxiety. The constant feeling of will they, won’t they is highly stressful.
Cinderella or the ugly sister?
Imagine texting someone you really like, asking them out on a date and constantly seeing the “typing” or the “three dots” notification but not actually receiving the message. Every now and then the message will disappear and then suddenly reappear, but there is still no message. We’ve all been there. We know that feeling. That’s what it’s like having leads in an open state. It’s easier to handle the rejection state than it is to handle the open and unknown state. In this state you could be Cinderella or one of the ugly sisters.
One of the ugly sisters (probably)
It’s been a few weeks. The dots have disappeared, just like your hopes and dreams of going to the ball. I think this is the worst state as you don’t really know how long you should wait before admitting defeating. If it’s been two months and still no response to multiple emails, chances are you’re not going to the ball, Cinderella. I mean you can keep emailing, but after a certain point, you kind of just sound desperate. All you can really do is dust yourself off and hope you can find someone else to take you to the ball (or tell you that the shoe didn’t fit).
Not every story has a fairy tale ending
I’ve probably shared way more data than I should, but that’s the reality for us right now and probably for you too if you go ahead with this perilous journey. The leads are Prince Charming. Ultimately they get to choose the Cinderella of their story. Sometimes that might be us, other times not. The important thing is that when the invitation to the ball arrives, we’ve got to be ready to go and hope that Prince Charming finds a glass slipper that fits us so we can all live happily ever after.
Thanks for reading this week’s episode of Building CAUSL. Just as a reminder, Substack?is the new home of my newsletter where I’ll also be writing about more broader product, analytics and measurement related topics so please do subscribe over there.
— Bhav?
CAUSL are a Product Management and Measurement consultancy. We help our clients connect the dots between the product, the customer and the business. Our consulting services include product analytics, experimentation and implementation. We also provide fractional leadership services in product and analytics. If you need support in any of these areas, please get in touch via the contact form on our website: www.causl.co.uk.?
Co-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) at Jointflows driving revenue growth
1 年Hey Bhav, great job sharing the building of your company in public and great job generating leads (I know its not easy!). You may already be doing so but try to implement a sales methodology like MEDDIC which you can follow for each of these leads. It will allow you to be able to predict the outcomes of the deals in a more accurate way. Totally agree that the open state is the more nerve wrecking state and this will allow you to save on biting those finger nails!
I really like the closed leads topic. Probably a "dormant" status is also a good one to have. Definition: prospect engaged, offered, but at some point they got into silent mode (30days+), no closure. The question is: How can one understand the reason? Is there any probability to engage with them in the future? PS: 15 leads in 4 months is a good number from my perspective.
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1 年I enjoy these builder newsletters Bhav, but get that you want to balance that with thought leadership. Reading this I was reminded of that phrase - 'we prefer the certainty of misery than the misery of uncertainty'. Keep going!