It Must Be A Marketing Problem

Steve Blank knows the difference between a marketing and a sales problem.

The first step in solving this problem is getting between the departmental finger pointing and investigating the nuts and bolts of how the product is moved to the consumer.

For any budding company, a great deal of the first sales come from friends and contacts of its board members and employees. As Steve points out, this is can be a potentially significant problem as it inflates sales numbers and sets impossibly high goals and projections. In addition, it keeps the sales team from really getting out in the field and interpreting the problem of the customer and solving that problem.

A company that lacks customer discovery is lost. They have no idea where to enhance or adapt the product and cash is pouring out. Steve says there is not better time to get back to basics and fire the wayward employees. The founder needs to reclaim his job as the most passionate and engaging salesman for his product.