- How to set up Slack as a highly effective way to create and nurture Super Seeds.
and want you to be successful.
Setting up a Slack group for Nugget was not in the original game plan. It was more of an afterthought. In fact, I almost didn't set it up for fear of having too many platforms.
Well, turns out it was one of the best thing I've ever done. I accidentally created a Super Seed factory.
I could never have imagined how many deep and meaningful conversations with customers would take place on Slack. Conversations that ultimately lead to this course right here.
Due to its asynchronous nature, Slack enables you to nurture multiple strong relationships at your convenience.
If anything could be called a Super Seed factory, it's a private Slack group that is filled with your customers and prospects!
That is why I consider it mandatory for you to:
- Create a Slack focus group
- Plug it in to your landing page and email list
- Ask everyone you talk to to join it
Having customers on tap, to ask questions and to talk to any time you want to, is a kick in the ass and a game changer.
If you're worried your market won't know or understand Slack... Consider that my mum, who is 70 and terrible at tech, is a member of 7 Slack groups!
In other words, I think it has reached an acceptable tipping point.
- Being asynchronous makes Slack much easier for your customers to maintain a dialog with you (i.e. no meeting scheduling required).
- Slack enables you to easily set up multiple private groups of discussion that are hidden from the rest of the workspace. This is especially useful if you would like to create a private chat between you and 5-10 Super Seeds to focus on a specific validation hypothesis, for example.
- Slack conversations are less likely to go dead in the same way that email conversations do, which makes Slack a great way to build ongoing relationships.
You'll want to try to catch customers when they first create their account so you can have a quick chat with them to establish a rapport.
It goes without saying, but always be nice and courteous. Keep in mind they are doing you a favor!
With regard to interviews, you won't be able to have the same level of in-depth interview on Slack as you can with a face-to-face meeting.
Before you start asking questions, you should always say something like:
- Do you have time for a quick question?
- Do you mind if I ask a few quick questions? I'm trying to see if my idea is any good and would really appreciate your insight!
- Continuing from our last discussion, I had a few more quick questions - mind if I ask them now?
Then try to work the following questions into your on ongoing conversations:
- What is your process to do <thing in question>?
- What is the main problem you face when you're doing <process in question>?
- What is the biggest pain point as a result of <problem in question>?
- If you could wave a magic wand to solve your problems related to <problem in question>, what software would pop into existence? How would it make things better?
- What solutions have you tried to solve <problem in question>? Where did they fail?
- Do you think other people have the same problem we're talking about here?
- Does a solution like <your solution> sound like something people might pay for?
Once you have a fairly defined product idea and your landing page is at Liquid or Solid, you can start to explore price:
- How helpful would <your solution> be for you vs. what you have to do now?
- What would be the maximum price for <your solution> that seems too cheap, and you could not take it seriously?
- What would be the minimum price for <your solution> that would seem trustable?
- What would be the maximum price for <your solution> that would still feel like good value?
Always ask that "How helpful" question first so they are seeing the value in your product before they throw out any numbers.
- Don't ask all these questions during one single Slack discussion!
- Try to work them in to a few chat sessions over a few days.
- Generally limit each chat session to 10 minutes or less (this will minimize chat fatigue for your customer).
- Riff naturally off the things your customer says to create well rounded, full conversations.
- The final action of Stage 7 is to update your landing page from Vapor to Liquid, so these conversations are just around the bend! Don't jump into them too soon, but don't feel that you need to wait to the last minute to start discussing price. We'll take a closer look at this in Stage 9.
For a deeper understanding of customer interviews also see Stage 7, Learn how to listen & learn in-person or on the phone
The first thing you'll want to do is come up with a workspace name for your Slack group.
I suggest:
<your-brand>-focus-group
For example:
https://happy-focus-group.slack.com
To get started, read:
Setup Your
Super Seed Factory
- Set Up Slack as shown in the previous lesson
- Add an automated welcome email to your list that invites people to join your Slack Focus Group
- Install the Slack app on your Mobile and be ready to engage with Seeds as soon as they join your Slack!
To complete our Super Seed Factory, we want all people who join our email list to get an invite to our Slack Focus Group.
To do this we'll need to add an automated welcome email that is sent when someone joins.
Our welcome email should look something like this:
Hi,
Thanks so much for joining the GetHappy.io beta list!
If you would like to take things one step further and help shape the future of Happy, you can join our Slack Focus Group.
We would love to have your input!
Many thanks,
Justin
The language here is quite intentional. I'm specifically calling it a focus group because I want to appeal to Super Seeds. Remember, they are the ones who love the niche and want to live vicariously through us as we build out our product. They will see the work as a public service and want to help us out.
This is a very different value proposition to presenting ourselves as the de facto expert. Even if we are creating an info product, it's optimal for us to ask people to sign up to our focus group to help us design a better info product that serves them better.
If we ask for help, we'll attract helpful people.
To create your slack invite link follow the steps here. When creating your link, make sure to set the link expiration to never.
Here are the steps, including getting a never expire link:
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
- If you are using cold outreach only (i.e. have no mailing list), still make a point of inviting each person to your Slack group.
- Assuming you connected and had some kind of positive interaction, it's the perfect way to keep in touch if they become a Super Seed.