Use This Script to Pre-Sell Your Product

About this video

Dan Martell lays out a script, drawn from Steve Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany and his own experience pre-selling Flowtown, for selling software before building it. First, talk only to early adopters — people who are problem-aware, seek an edge, and will tolerate waiting — because late adopters give false signals and pull the product off vision. Second, earn the call by offering value: say you have spoken to a dozen peers in their role, ask for about eight minutes of their advice, and offer to share the top three lessons learned. The call has two parts. Part one is learning, not selling: audit their current situation and spend, surface challenges, ask about competing products and budget, and finish with Blank’s ‘IPO question’ — if you could wave a magic wand and solve this problem, what would that look like? Part two, on a follow-up demo of a prototype, mirrors their stated problems back as the reasons each feature exists, and watches for advice-giving as a sign of commitment. Then make the Early Adopter Program offer — Martell describes using 50% off the annual price in perpetuity, a launch date, and a Customer Advisory Board role — and stop talking. Finally, take the money upfront: in his example, $100 a month becomes $600 for a year at half price, paid now. He says ten conversations is a minimum, and cites a client, Max, who by Martell’s account pre-sold 37 clients into an SEO product and funded development.

Key takeaways

• Filter for early adopters only before pre-selling; late adopters create false demand signals and distort product priorities.
• Open with value, not a pitch: offer lessons from peers in exchange for a short advice call with a problem-aware prospect.
• Split the conversation — part one learns about their situation, challenges, alternatives, and budget; part two sells.
• Ask the magic-wand ‘IPO question’ to learn whether the solution they describe matches the product you intend to build.
• Close into a paid Early Adopter Program and collect the money upfront; unpaid interest does not count as validation.

Episode details: published October 14, 2019 · 14:22 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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