The Game Plan: How I'm taking my CRM to Market

Building and launching a product is one thing, but getting it into the hands of customers? That’s where the real challenge begins. After focusing heavily on building the product, it’s time to turn my attention to the next big step: taking it to market!

Narrow Focus, Big Impact

Many CRM competitors are chasing after both enterprise giants and tiny businesses, trying to be everything for everyone. But here’s the reality: a product that tries to serve both ends of the market can’t truly excel at either.

For me, the focus is clear - small and mid-sized companies with 1-100 people working in sales and customer management, especially those who focus on active selling activities.

By zeroing in on this specific slice of the market, I’m not only building a CRM that’s tailor-made for their needs but also making sure my sales and marketing efforts are highly targeted and efficient. It’s all about doing fewer things, but doing them incredibly well.

100 knocks, 10 talks, 1 sale

Yeah, that’s from my days as a door-knocking salesperson in Sweden and China (but that’s a story for another day!). It’s a bit cheeky, but it’s also true. You’ve heard it before:

• “It’s a numbers game”

• “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

• … etc etc

In short, my main go-to-market strategy right now is simple: cold outreach. That means getting in front of potential customers, whether physically or digitally. So, how? Easy! Call them, email them, message them on LinkedIn, go to networking events. It’s not more complicated than that.

Does cold calling suck? Sure, sometimes it does. But it can also be the game-changer your company needs. Because it’s uncomfortable, most startups avoid it, which leaves an open door to connect directly with customers.

Here’s the thing: when you need customers fast, cold outreach is the quickest way to get them. Sure, branding campaigns have their place, but they can take months to drive results. Cold outreach? You could be getting responses within days or weeks.

Personally, I’d prefer to get customers sooner rather than later, but hey, that’s for everyone to decide how they want to play the game.

2 is more than 1. Think about it, it’s true.

Cold outreach is fantastic for getting the business up and running and landing those first customers. But let’s be real - it’s not scalable. I can’t be on the phone all day while also taking care of customers and developing the product. So, what’s the next step?

There are plans in the works for other ways to get customers. One strategy I’m excited about is partnership sales. Now, I know what you’re thinking: traditional partnership setups usually don’t deliver much for either party. But I’ve got a twist on this that I’ll explore with you in a future newsletter. Stay tuned!

More immediately, I’m diving into content marketing. This newsletter is, of course, a form of content marketing, but I’m particularly excited about using video - both short form and long form - to get my CRM in front of hundreds or thousands of potential users. The killer feature I teased last week will be a perfect fit for short-form content on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and even LinkedIn now that they have video as well.

I might need some help to make those videos really pop, but that’s a problem for another day. For now, I’m looking forward to experimenting and seeing what works!

Wrapping it up

That’s the plan for now: staying focused on small and mid-sized companies, hitting the ground running with cold outreach, and laying the groundwork for scalable growth through partnerships and content marketing. It’s all about keeping momentum while refining the product and getting it into the hands of users as quickly as possible.

And speaking of getting it into users’ hands, the product launch is getting closer! I’m finalizing the core features and preparing for the big reveal soon. I’ll keep you updated on all the details as we approach launch day - trust me, it’s going to be worth the wait.

Thanks for reading, and as always, feel free to hit reply with any thoughts, feedback, or questions. Until next Thursday… or, you know, maybe Friday. Let’s see how the week goes! 😅