“Find existing words for the new”
When you build a business, you are advised to find a ‘niche’, with an ideal customer profile and a unique way of serving them, which is of course, different from all competition.
When you get that advise, they often forget to mention it takes a business two to five years to find that different thing.
Product market fit is essentially just slaying niches and customers, building bridges, burning bridges, until somehow, somewhere, something sticks.
Some say it’s a science, and that it can be replicated.
I’d say it’s an art. Especially if you’re truly innovating.
For over two years I’ve been slaying in one customer domain. I built ten different versions of bridges and burned them, some with new people, some with old.
Yet I realised, it’s a shaky bridge with no budget. So as Lucy’s getting lazy (maybe it’s rather tired & wise, but lazy sounds better with Lucy, something with alliterations), I decided to switch customers, to one who does have budget.
Now the good thing is, I get to take all my learnings from the previous customer domain into this new one. And halleluja, I’m now on version two and something struck me.
It’s the new in old clothes that works.
To be fair, it’s a well-known business adoption advice, I’m not that genious, but I did change my perspective for my current customer.
You see, what always distinguished me is my analytical take on things, simplifying chaos & complexity. At the same time I was also annoyed with the fluffiness of the well-being and soft skills space.
So I brought an analytical take to motivation, communication, adoption, presentation… and a human take to data, AI, software and IT. The famous ‘bridge’.
But I wasn’t using the terminology for it!
I was using language 1 in field 1 and language 2 in field 2. Something with trying to fit it and making myself understandable.
So then, I started using language 1 in field 2 and language 2 in field 1, and I started getting some traction, but nothing crazy.
But then I found the key is to use the existing language, and not invent anything new. I was making new word combinations and sorts, but forget that. Existing language 1 in field 2.
In my case, existing language 1 belonged to customer 1 who had a problem in field 2, for which I found a solution that talks to him/her/they in language 1 but solves the problem in field 2.
And the funny thing is, of course customer 1 has a problem to be solved in field 2, because they’re not speaking that language of 2!
So my learning is something I’ve read over and over in many of my books, but only struck me in reality this week:
Learn the customer’s language
Then use their existing words for the new
It seems so simple now.
