What do you do when a customer tells you that they'd love to sign up but your product or service is missing just one feature?
You want to close the sale so it's tempting to listen closely to what they have to say and build the feature, hoping they'll sign up.
The reality is, this is not a reason why people don't buy. People are eager to pay for products that solve their core needs. If what's missing from your product or service will solve their core need then they need a completely different product. (It also means that you misunderstood their need or didn't bother to take the time to understand the problem they're trying to solve.)
If your product does solve their core problem and they still want a new feature, then there should be nothing stopping them from signing up. You just need to sell them. You can then weigh the option of building the feature. (It's likely that the feature is already in the queue. It is rare to come across a feature request that a previous customer has not requested.)
Customer don't always know why they won't buy
Potential customers will give you any number of reasons why they won’t buy, whether they’re true or not.
A reason I hear all the time is, "your application is missing feature x. Without it, we can't move forward."
Nonsense. They just don’t want to buy. If at this point in the sales process, if there's a clear positive match between the customer's most critical problem and your product's ability to solve that problem, then there's something else going on.
Sometimes customers are looking for a gentle way to back out. Maybe they’re shy or don’t want to hurt your feelings. Or maybe they don't actually need the product and are just window browsing. Maybe they're planning WAY too far out.
Funnily enough, customers themselves often don't know the reason why they don't want to buy. They just know the answer is "no" and there’s little you can do about it but don't want to actually say the word, "no."
What’s dangerous – and WAY too common – is treating what they're telling you as feedback you should act on. That you should use what they're saying as a strategy and shift the direction of your product. I.e. Adding feature X to your product.
Don't fall for this trap. Even if they are a HUGE client you've been after for a long time.
You have two options:
- Foolishly add the one feature the customer wants, hoping they bite.
- Play the long game by staying on the path that works.
The problem with #1 is that it rarely helps you get the sale or create a product that people actually want. Maybe one customer, but that’s it. You’re then stuck with this one feature that gets in the way for other customers since it's outside the core value your product offers.
It's WAY better to go after a well-defined group of people with a well-defined problem. To spend time understanding these people and their problems better than anyone else. Selling then becomes simpler and easier.