The Science Of Building And Selling

A pattern I've noticed during sales demos is how similar the process is to the scientific process.

That is: Observe, Hypothesize, Experiment.

When showing potential users your product for the first time, so much intuition is involved with a hint of empathy. As the creator, you have to listen and understand how your user feels when viewing their product. You must observe their reactions, whether it be positive or negative. These reactions can be expressed through involuntary face movements, intonation of their voice as they speak, the types of questions they're asking, etc.

It's very rare that a user is going to say "I feel happy!" or "I feel sad that this feature isn't there", you have to really listen to what they're saying and the context of how they're saying it.

The human element involved in selling was really surprising to me.

Another important part is to take these observations and form hypotheses regarding your product and approach: if we had X feature then we could enable teams to do Y, or if we said X then they would've known we can do Y. If you're a programmer, these hypotheses should be easy; they should always take the form of an IF THEN statement.

Each hypothesis then leads to experimentation. Does changing this thing lead to more success? Whether that be a more successful sales process or a more valuable product for your users, each hypothesis should render some form of results. Make it clear, make it testable. Rinse and repeat.

After realizing this, it kinda blew my mind and everything became simpler. Building product is invention.

And invention is science.