I viewed objections as a necessary part of getting acceptance. Basically, I just figured I’d have to go through a lot of objections to get to yes. The faster I got the objections, the faster I’d find the yes.
—Tom Wiese, Wieselaw Contract Studio
Many entrepreneurs view sales objections negatively because they interpret them as a personal or professional criticism. They see a “No” instead of a conditional “Yes.” They see objections as bad omens and try to avoid them at all costs by either ignoring the objections or writing off the prospect altogether. This mindset also makes such entrepreneurs become defensive, which further weakens their chances of success in the future.
Successful entrepreneurs see objections as a valuable part of the selling process. They realize that objections actually signal interest on the part of the prospects and are a way of letting the entrepreneur know what they need to take care of before they can close the deal. They see the voicing of objections as a positive step in the sales process because it shows that the prospect was listening to the pitch and thinking about it within the context of their business model and situation.
Objections can also be leveraged to gain further insight into the prospect’s business model (how they create and deliver value to their customers). Through effective questioning and listening, the entrepreneur can learn the source and nature of objections, thereby revealing the underlying issues that affect the value derivable from his or her product. In turn, this information could lead to product modifications or the development of a completely new product.
Also keep in mind that your prospect is assessing you as well as your idea. Prospects regularly use objections to test the ability, composure, knowledge, expertise, character, resilience, and credibility of the entrepreneur. When a prospect has not seen or tried the product, they may use other criteria to decide whether or not to invest in the sales process. For example, if the entrepreneur demonstrates their skills and reveals a likable personality, prospects could transfer these positive sentiments to the product under discussion. The quality of the messenger says a lot about the quality of the message.
Before describing the strategies for addressing objections, it is worth noting that most objections come from misinformation or misconception, skepticism, and a real drawback in using the proposed solution. When it is misconception, entrepreneurs should clarify and provide appropriate or adequate information. In the case of skepticism, providing proofs, demos, and test data—especially from third parties—can be helpful. If there is an actual problem with the solution (e.g., feature, price, and delivery), try changing your point of reference by reframing it, showing the big picture and modifying the solution.
The following are the most common types of objections and effective responses to them.
Product efficacy. Prospects are sometimes skeptical about the product’s ability to deliver the value as communicated in the pitch. This is one of those cases where novelty can constitute a handicap, particularly in the absence of at least one satisfied user. Entrepreneurs who conduct adequate background research on their prospects and have their product effectiveness factsheets (e.g., from beta sites and independent lab results) handy have an easier task handling performance-based objections. One particularly effective response is to offer to put the product to the test, at no risk to the prospect. No matter how small, the resulting purchase order gives you an opportunity to demonstrate what you could do and set the stage for bigger orders (often on your terms, especially if the result meets or surpasses the prospect’s expectations).
“The first customer wasn’t going to pay for something he didn’t know worked,” said David of ENTREX Inc. So what he agreed to was to be a beta customer … he paid nothing. So [the] beta test went on for about five months until it worked reliably enough until their could get enough data to show it was going to be cost effective, until they finally purchased it, I think that’s pretty typical. They made a great reference for us because we brought something that saved them money.
Tom Alexander, the founder of a toy design and manufacturing firm, made a reluctant prospect a friendly wager. The prospect would give him a “trial” to see if he could handle the order. If it didn’t work, Tom would take him out to dinner; if it did work, however, the prospect would place a more substantial order with him. The prospect agreed, and asked him to supply two units per store for $1000. The trial worked out well and the bigger orders flowed in.
Peter Russo—whose Massachusetts-based company, New Approach Development, specializes in product development and design, engineering, packaging, and merchandizing—had a slightly different method:
“Give me a project,” I told them, “Let’s define the scope and let me do five hundred dollars’ worth of work and come back to you. If you like the direction I’m going, you can decide to spend five hundred more or not; and if you don’t like the direction, you don’t have to pay me.”
Cihan Sengucan, cofounder of Kenya-based clothing manufacturer Steep Impex responded to a prospect’s trepidation in a similar fashion.
“I don’t know you,” he said, “We have not seen your products … because of that we cannot trust you.” And because I believe that sincerity is the most important quality one can have in business, I told them, “Place a small order with me, and I won’t take a deposit. Don’t make it too risky for me and you have no risk at all. I will bring it to you, to your door, and you see, you check, you fit—if you like, you take; if you don’t, don’t take. They liked this idea, and they agreed.”
Entrepreneur’s credibility. Sometimes, a prospect’s hesitancy has less to do with the product and more to do with the ability of the entrepreneur to deliver on his or her promises and provide long-term leadership of the new venture. One or more of the following factors often feed this uncertainty: age, gender, personal background, and relevant work experience. Of course, entrepreneurs with such experience can draw on that to address this sort of objection. Those without relevant experience can partner with those who do in order to assuage prospect’s concerns. Others often preempt this objection by surrounding themselves, at the board level, with credible people. Still others, such as Raul Pellerano and Mikaela Gillette of Click Catalysts, simply demonstrated their skills.
…The age concern came up when they saw us. But it went away as soon as we started speaking about our knowledge and we started giving them specific advice right away on things that can be fixed, in which they hadn’t thought about.
As the following three cases demonstrate, having credible people on the new venture’s board or reaching out to people who the prospects trust and who could speak favorably on your behalf could help overcome this objection. Take, for example, the strategy employed by Christine Mosholder, cofounder of Fort Point, a U.S.-based Architecture/Real Estate consulting firm:
For them probably the risk was, (a) we were a brand new company, and (b) we’re small, right, and they were embarking on a pretty sizable renovation and relocation project to Landmark Center over by Fenway Park. We had to assure them that we were committed; making them believe that we, the owners of the company, were actually going to be involved in the project. When they pointed out that we didn’t have the resources to make this renovation happen, we leveraged the other folks we knew on the team as testimonials. We’ve been in the Boston real estate arena for several years. It was probably our connections with other folks on their project team who really helped with our credibility.
Fabian Ajogwu, social entrepreneur and founder of Society for Corporate Governance in Nigeria, described his process in this regard:
First of all, we realized that this is a topic that isn’t very popular because you are telling people to do the right thing and I believe that we weren’t going to achieve it by so doing. The strategy was to show people what we do, which was why we started the [publication] series. The series in themselves were hard work; the publications were like adverts because we could see the quality then and the board, the quality of people on the board. We chose people who had served in their companies with reputation to be on the board … We appointed one of our board members, KPMG to be the auditor. Now you know, first of all, that KPMG signs the annual report, which means you have submitted yourself to the highest level of accountability in non-profit which is rare in this part of the world. … As a non-profit, the question is how you are able to afford KPMG. It must mean that either you paid so much, or they believe in what you’re doing. So, that was very crucial. The minute our audited account were by KPMG, I would say that was what delivered IFC, but we now started having World Bank, De Lloyds, everybody coming. And then, KPMG is happy to associate with us.
Steve Onyemah, founder of Nigeria-based S. Lloyd Outsourcing Professionals, also leveraged the experience of his board members:
Early resistance had to do with the company being very new, but I conquered that by letting them know, through my profile, that I’ve been in that kind of business for years before venturing out on my own. That was one. Then, two, they looked at my board composition and felt the directors were credible enough. This gave them the needed boost to say, “Okay, let’s just have a go with this young company.”
Rodrigo Graf of COSOL illustrated the very real credibility issue of new entrepreneurs.
Even though you have a good product and a good idea, and you have already seen the prototype, you always fear being the first. I think that’s the entrepreneur’s greatest challenge. The need to have track record goes hand in hand with the need to have strong relationships. They will allow you to easily create a track records with people who can [authorize] a higher risk in the prospect’s enterprise. To [try to] sell a product to [someone] who doesn’t know you through a Power Point presentation or a prototype, will likely result in a “No thanks, call me when you have other customers, when the public has already used it.”
Joel Cam of Joel Cam designs also believes that performance will solve any credibility issues.
I believe that your greatest marketing is the actual execution of your work. So by executing the design well, your sales should go up, and CPG companies know that—so they are willing to pay. And smaller CPG companies are great because they are more agile. Gillette was great because the CEO came through marketing, and marketing was the key for all P&G. They knew that good packaging always increases the sales volume.
Size. Prospects may feel a new venture would not have necessary resources to deliver a big order. Again, entrepreneurs crafted strategies most closely aligned with their personalities and values.
Tom Alexander also owns Infratron, a phone-based digital data transfer service, and in running it he provides the same personalized customized service:
How do you make him comfortable if your company is small? You don’t have to make him comfortable [with that]; you have to make him comfortable with you. He has to trust you. So first he’s got to believe in me, he has to believe that I believe in the product I’m selling him. He has to believe that I’m so truthful and honest. I said jokingly, “Hey, you won’t get many sales people who have
MBA degrees” and if he believes it—I said—“Well let me tell you something, not only [will you not] get anybody with an MBA selling you—you won’t get a Harvard MBA to sell you.” I was getting in closer and closer and it was done in a very nice, jovial way. It had to be very honest and it came from the heart.
Rodrigo Graf shares a similar philosophy:
A product’s benefits are difficult to transmit in a paper, but when you take people to see the product—or show them a video—people are astonished; they say, “Oh my God, it’s real.” And then selling labor is easier. My most effective way to introduce my product is to take people to the plant and show them how to we produce things, and present them with prototypes. So people say, “Wow!”
Price: Sometimes, it just comes down to the bottom line. When prospects balk at the asking price it is sometimes best to employ some simple logic, as in the case of Gabriel Oropeza, who with his brother founded Doc Solutions, a Mexican firm that specializes in managing physical and digital/ electronic documents from new to archival status. They faced and responded to the following price objection:
The prospect said, “I’m not going to pay someone to keep my dead archives because it doesn’t cost me anything.” I responded, “It costs you nothing? Now let’s do some quantitative analysis to see how much physical space you’re currently devoting to your archives … Is the space rented or owned by you? If it’s rented, then with our service you’ll no longer need to pay the rent. And if it’s owned by you, with our service you’ll free it up for another use within your organization. And even if you do not have an alternative use for it, you can always sublet it. Next, let’s consider the labor cost you’re incurring in managing your archives, the cost of time lost in searching for information, misplaced documents, etc. because you do not have a robust mechanism for keeping, tracking, and retrieving them. We’ll need to add that to the cost of reproducing the information and in the case of delays, the penalties imposed by government authorities for lost information or late submission. In summary, we can work together to quantify these costs. Now is the time to talk about cost-benefit analysis.” At this point, the price objection fades into thin air.
Oftentimes, price objections stem from prospects’ incomplete, biased, or subjective cost–benefit analysis. Other times, as in the case of Internbridge, it could be the result of a lack of thorough understanding of the proposition. According to Richard Bottner, Internbridge’s founder:
Our offering was not at all expensive, so usually when prospects said they couldn’t afford it I interpreted it as they don’t want it or they don’t understand it. We had to go back and do a better job at explaining our service and how we can add value. And that helped to overcome the price objection.
In the case of Click Catalyst USA, the price objection was met as follows:
Yeah, the first client that we did we tried to get them for $750 a month, which would be $9,000 a year … They wanted to do $500, so we said okay, but we also told them that we’re going to do less work for them. So they’re going to get less with that $500 and they were fine with that.
The flip side is when a prospect does say yes and it turns out to be less than optimal for the company. Seth Bernstein of Event Services told this cautionary tale:
Bottom line, don’t get overconfident when large industry players want to partner with you. Early on, it was a huge proof of concept that these people in the industry were super-excited about what we were offering and wanted to partner with us, and that definitely gave us confidence. In the long run, it wasn’t beneficial and we wouldn’t give such a large discount. Now whenever we have new ties, we don’t give any discounts, we tell them the price is our price … but feel free to mark it up.
Switching cost: This could be monetary, social, or psychological. In order to adopt a new product or service, prospects might need to modify existing routines, procedures, systems, and internal (e.g., employee) or external (e.g., supplier) relationships. The cost associated with such modifications, safety issues, and the risks of being first-time users (guinea pigs) often engendered buyer resistances. This type of objection may be verbalized or not. In the latter case, the responsibility was on the entrepreneurs to ask good questions that would make prospects talk freely about these objections even when they don’t want to. Examples of objections under this category include: “How do we know it will work and keep working?”
For Mark Casali and his partner, it was a matter of changing tactics while in the meeting.
Our biggest difficulty [was that] we were young guys, so people are a little bit surprised when we walk in a door. But also just how young our company is, it scares people. You know, we’re going up against [website design] firms who’ve been around for, you know, five, ten years, who may be a lot safer. So we definitely walked out based on, I would say, risk level. So we changed our approach and started bringing up the questions preemptively in sales meetings and say, “Look, we get that we’re young. We get that there’s firms that have been around for longer. However, we can assure you …” and it worked.
For some entrepreneurs, it helped to have third-party independent certification to defuse safety concerns. John Goscha, cofounder of IdeaPaint, obtained an independent laboratory report on the durability and safety of its new paint. Josh Bob, founder of TurnStar USA, relied on beta testing. TurnStar is a firm that helps restaurants and other busy businesses recognize and retain their best customers by enabling customers to join waiting queues remotely or at their actual location, then send a notification to their phones when their spot in line is almost ready.
Most restaurants don’t have a computer at the front desk, and so we’ve got to sort of alleviate that. They said, “Well, we’re not really looking to change the way we do things.” Restaurants are pretty slow to change. Not only will our service lead to a significant change in the number of people who stay, but a significant change in the amount of money that they spend as we show them that their overall revenue is going to increase; we used our own statistics, our own data from beta testing sites to convince them.
When it comes to gender-based objections, Busola Oyebadejo, founder of Power Gen Engineering Nigeria, constantly faced the questions, Where’s the expatriate? Where’s the engineer? Where’s the man? Her response:
We told him what we could do for him, and our prices and all that. He just looked around and said, “Who is this woman with this amount of knowledge…” Rather than be intimidated, I saw the objection as an opportunity to sell myself and surprise the CEO since I may never get the opportunity to meet him again. Otherwise the people below him, (e.g., the Technical Manager), would not even want to see me and was already comfortable with who he was doing business with. The CEO was convinced, and we got the order and several big repeat businesses.
It is important to note that sometimes, a prospect does not even fully realize why he or she is not enthused about an idea. That’s why it is so important for entrepreneurs to ask questions that engender a complete understanding. Addressing an objection that is not well understood may lead to confusion or misunderstanding between salesperson and prospect. Instead, ask the HVQs we’ve discussed and listen carefully to the responses. You might also encourage prospects to lay all their objections out on the table and go through them one by one. Not only might some objections be interrelated, but also, some might be more important than the others. This tactic will lead to more effective and efficient handling of prospects’ objections and concerns. It will also catch any “fake” objections, or “smokescreens”; for example, a prospect may be intentionally stalling a deal for one reason or another. In order to discern if an objection is genuine, you might say something like: “If we take care of Issue X would you be willing to sign a deal?” If the answer is “no,” then it is likely there are other “unstated” objections or the expressed objection is not real.
As with every aspect of the selling process, it is important to have worked out your response to a prospect’s objection before they say it, whether that prospect is an adviser or a board member, a customer, or an employee. The following are examples of some common objections and effective responses.
Advisers: I’m quite busy at the moment and unfortunately do not have an opening in my calendar.
Your Response: I appreciate your taking the time to response to my request. Your busy schedule is an indication of the high value so many people place on your insights. I’m ready to wait for the next available opening on your schedule. Please let me know when will be a convenient time to meet you. Alternatively, we’ll appreciate your suggesting someone else you hold in high regard that can provide us with some advice.
Board Members: My hands are full and I don’t want to spread myself too thin. I have no experience in your sector.
Your Response: I understand and respect your need to maintain focus and balance. Do you have any friends or close associates you could refer us to? We agree with you that a lack of experience might be limiting. This notwithstanding, we believe our company can benefit immensely from your vision, leadership, and wisdom.
Channels: We do not have shelf space for another product in this category. / Your product doesn’t have a sales track record. / You do not provide enough resources to support our devoting time to this new product. / Your product is too difficult to sell. / The margin on your product is small.
Your Response: We see your point on the importance of return on one of your most important asset, space (i.e., profit per square foot). This is why we have collected data showing that on this key performance indicator, our product, compared to most products in the category, gives you more.
Customers: We are unable to absorb the price increase.
Your Response: I can imagine the difficulty of accommodating a price increase because we’ve had to do so (with respect to our suppliers) on multiple occasions. Something that has worked for us in the past is to renegotiate a payment plan that suits our financial constraint. Is this a possibility you’ll be open to exploring?
Employees: I need more structure and direction. I’m not sure I understand what is expected of me.
Your Response: We understand how you feel. Some employees felt the same in their first year with us. But adapted quickly shortly afterward once they realized that the entrepreneurial nature of our company calls for regular growth-induced changes that do not sacrifice our core values and competencies.
Financial Institutions: The risk presented makes this a “no go” for us.
Your Response: Thank you for communicating this decision. To ensure we don’t waste your time the next time we present a proposal, could you walk us through what the bank would like to see before partnering with us?
Investors: The returns so far do not justify additional investment.
Your Response: We appreciate your investment and are aware that the returns till date are below your expectation. However, we have strong signs showing that we have turned the corner. The new channels acquired and new set of large customer orders received indicates that our revised growth strategy is working. The new investment sought is to support this growth phase that promises returns that will surpass your expectation.
Partners: I’m not convinced the adopted strategy is the best for this company at this time.
Your response: I appreciate your take on the strategic direction and truly think there is much value in the alternative proposals. The adopted option is by no means perfect. I feel comfortable leading the firm up this path but open to change course if results and emerging circumstances so inform.
Prospects: We’re satisfied with our current vendors.
Your Response: We appreciate this piece of information. If you could share with us your satisfaction criteria, we could assess the relative value of our proposal and the solution you currently have.
Suppliers: It doesn’t make economic sense for us because you do not meet our minimum order quantity.
Your Response: Thank you for your candidness. What is your minimum order quantity? Would you be open to receiving a consolidated order from companies like ours whose needs fall below the minimum order quantity?
Talent: There is no job security.
Your Response: We might not provide job security but we make it possible for you to “design” one for yourself. Wouldn’t you rather bring your talent to grow with us and share in the increasing equity generated than work for companies that leverage your talent in exchange for “fixed” pay? Besides, you’ll not be working for us, but with us. You’ll have the freedom to shape your job security rather than have one that doesn’t fit your dreams.
Guillermo Oropeza of Doc Solutions shared an excellent attitude with regard to objections:
I think an objection is not only a way of “feeding” your business and reflecting on what a customer might be seeing. It is [also] an opportunity to achieve a sale. If you know how to manage an objection in an intelligent way, you’re taking the hand of an opponent and turning [him or her] into an ally.
Similarly, Stephen Douglass of Young Impact used objections to better define his target market.
It made me realize who my clients, or who my potential clients were. I mean, that was the main point I took away. Every time I got a rejection, the price was too high or it wasn’t what they were looking for. How can I get that information? How can I better prepare before I go into these meetings? I just always tried to get more intelligence on who my customer was.
Closing the Deal
After addressing objections and concerns expressed by your prospect, you are ready to progress to the next phase of the sales process: closing the deal. Closing is the next logical step because, at this point, all obstacles that were standing in the way of making a deal happen have been taken care of. Although this seems obvious, the majority of entrepreneurs miss the opportunity to close a deal. Some expected the prospects to simply say something like, “Great! Let me have the product, here is the payment,” but the truth is, other than in business-to-customer (B2C) world (i.e., a retail store), this rarely happens. In business-to-business (B2B) contexts, the responsibility is on the entrepreneur or any salesperson to take control. This is done by asking a closing question. It is important that it be an “ASK” and not just a statement, because only an “ASK,” in the form of a question, requires a definitive response from the prospect. It could even be a trial close in which an entrepreneur is trying to gauge the strength of interest expressed or the extent to which all serious objections or concerns have been dealt with satisfactorily. If objections or concerns still exist, then a trial close will force them out on the table so that such objections can be dealt with.
Contrary to what some believe, the closing phase does not have to be a stressful one. In fact, if an entrepreneur has done a good job in the preceding phases of the sales process, the closing phase will be devoid of tension and fears (e.g., fear of losing the deal at the last minute or hearing that dreaded word: no).
That said, successfully closing a deal does require a certain skillset.
When to close: Entrepreneurs should pay attention to buying signals. These signals may be verbal or nonverbal.
Examples of verbal signals:
“This is too good to be true.”
“We never thought this was possible.”
“We never thought there was a way to increase the productivity in such a setup.”
“How many staff will have to be trained?”
“That will be a great advantage?”
“I see us doing a regional rollout.”
“How long would a full implementation take?”
“This product would allow us to X, Y, and Z.”
“This service will eliminate one of the major problems that have ...”
“How soon can you deliver the first batch of shipment?”
“What are your payment terms?”
“Are their quantity discounts?”
“What postsales support services do you provide?”
“The results of the demonstration are amazing!”
“We are interested.”
“We’re imagining a scenario where our plant in ‘City X’ get to pilot it, then…”
“We see how this could give us an edge over X.”
Examples of nonverbal signals:
Expressed enthusiasm
Excitement (facial expression)
Leaning forward
Nodding (in agreement)
The key is to listen and observe very carefully (see the section on listening in Chapter 5); otherwise, you might miss the buying signals. They can happen in a split of a second and might not be repeated. It is therefore important to leverage a positive (strong) buying signal as soon as you hear, see, or sense it.
How to close: There are direct and indirect ways of closing a sale gracefully. The method you use may depend on the strength of the buying signal, cultural norms, and the personality style/preference of the entrepreneur. You want to use a closing method that is satisfactory with the prospects. By now you’ve probably met with them several times and have an idea as to what approach that they will feel most comfortable with.
Examples of a direct approach:
“Can we call it a deal?”
“Can we sign the contract?”
“Should we send the paperwork for you to sign?”
“Can you fill out the paperwork?”
“Let’s conclude a deal by signing X, Y, or Z.”
“In order to write up the contract, I need your X, Y, and Z.”
Examples of indirect approach:
Step by step: This is usually used for complex sales. Here, the entrepreneur breaks a big decision (e.g., embarking on a major infrastructure renovation) into several parts that are easier for the prospect to digest. Starting with the smallest part, one gradually builds a staircase of agreement (decisions).
Take it for granted: This is an excellent approach to take when very strong buying signals have been noticed. The entrepreneur simply assumes that the prospect is sold and ready to move ahead with acquiring the product or service. Examples include:
“When would you want to receive the first shipment?”
“How would you like to pay?”
“How do you want your company name written on the contract?”
“To whom should we address the contract?”
“What color of X do you prefer?”
“When would you like the implementation to begin?”
“Which region do you have in mind for the pilot (first rollout)?”
“When do all relevant parties meet to sign the contract?”
Either/Or: This is slightly different from the “take-it-for-granted” approach. In this approach, the entrepreneur offers a number of options (often time payment options) so that the prospect is encouraged to consider and make a choice. For example, “Would you want an outright purchase or a lease?”
A Word About Metrics
(Refer to Figure 4.1 on page 30)
As an entrepreneur who is passionate about his or her idea, it is easy to get caught up in the pitching process—it is the high-energy phase designed to (hopefully) get prospects as excited about it as we are. We understand this point, which is why we spend so much time discussing the best way to engage various targets. That said, we also need a system with which to manage the selling process and measure, overall, how well our pitch is going. At first this may seem tedious and a distraction from the “fun” part of selling, but the relatively small amount of effort to put it in place can save countless hours (not to mention dollars).
We know as salespeople that not every lead will become a customer or other type of stakeholder; therefore, the number of leads generated must be much greater than the desired goal (i.e., purchase orders, contracts, or other commitments). For example, if the goal is to obtain the commitment of three medium-sized distribution channels, the entrepreneur must identify scores of such channels to qualify and approach. Or, put another way, if the goal is to achieve one million dollars in revenue, the entrepreneur has to cultivate leads that are worth ten million dollars (assuming a conversion ratio of 10:1). An efficient metrics system will be set up like any other experiment, in a “controlled” environment, that allows variables to be studied and if necessary, adjusted. Here are some of the components one should take into account:
Phase size: number of potential prospects/stakeholders in the phase
Cycle length: the average elapsed time between identifying and convincing (getting the commitment of) a prospect/ stakeholder
Conversion rate (between a pair of successive phases): number of prospects/stakeholders that transitioned from one given phase to the next
Success velocity: number of commitments achieved per given period
Commitment quality: size and reputational impact of the commitment
The outcome at any point of the process is influenced by the quality of candidates on the list of identified stakeholders, the qualification criteria, and the leadership ability of the entrepreneur.
A disciplined approach requires tracking the metrics on a regular basis, daily, weekly, or monthly, depending on the type of business. Over time, these metrics can form the basis of sales forecasts, materials acquisition, organizational sizing, resource need assessment, production planning, and pro forma financial statements.
Of course, the ultimate test of a new business model is customer acquisition and retention. Achieving sales (in the case of businesses) or enrolling members (in the case of organizations, especially not-for-profit) is fundamental for any start-up. This achievement is far more important than getting buy-ins from the rest of the stakeholders. It is a major milestone because it closes the start-up loop and sets the foundation for growth as customers make repeat purchase or members renew their subscription/membership. Customer or member acquisition is the validation of prospects’ willingness to pay in exchange for the value offered by the entrepreneur. Since this validation determines the life expectancy of start-ups, the measuring of such milestones (or determining the extent to which one has fallen short of them) is critical.