How to Recruit Enterprise Users (and Turn Them into Customers)
Find enterprise users and convince them to talk to you in a way that leads to sales
During the Prototype Thinking Sprint, we instruct teams to go out and schedule calls with 4-5 users before the prototype is even built -- it's the very first action step after the kickoff workshop.
Sometimes, this is very straightforward. But if you're building an enterprise / saas product, it is very rarely straightforward.
Here's a guide to finding enterprise users and convincing them to talk to you in a way that ultimately leads to sales.
STEP 1: HAVE CONVICTION
Assuming you will succeed is, surprisingly, actually like 1/3 of the battle. To my surprise, more than half of enterprise teams I work with assume it won't be possible to reach whoever they really want to talk to and try to come up with compromises right out the gate.
Don't do this. Put it this way: If you can't get your target user to come talk to you for a 30 min video call, how will you ever reach them to purchase your product?
User testing is the first step of sales, so failure is not an option.
Successful enterprise sales is about relationship development over time, and user recruitment is the very first step of that relationship. (I promise, running a user test well will deepen and accelerate your sales relationship and build social capital, not detract from / expend it.)
STEP 2: LOOK FOR JUST 2 USERS
The single, unsurpassable, absolute best and most reliable source of qualified users is... other qualified users. In a pinch, assume each user can refer you to at least one other person, who can then refer you to at least one other person, etc.
You could theoretically get all 4 users in a chain this way, but you don't want to, because it will pollute your sample for them to all come from the same social circle. So you want at least 2 different seeds to start out for enterprise (3 for consumer).
STEP 3: THINK ABOUT WHAT ROLE YOU REALLY NEED TO TALK TO
In the customer organization, there are 3 categories of people you will need to talk to before the sprint is over:
The Impact Owner: this is the person whose job is to deliver on the metrics that your solution is designed to improve and who will be your main internal champion. In most cases, it will be a manager or director.
The End User: these are the people who will be doing the day-to-day task execution associated with adopting your product.
The Buyer: the person who will ultimately approve the purchase of your solution. This is typically the Impact Owner's manager, usually the department head or VP.
The second biggest mistake (other than lacking conviction) I see teams making in enterprise user recruitment is assuming that they need to come out of the gate and have conversations with the Buyer. And indeed, the Buyer is almost impossible to get ahold of from scratch.
However, in your first cycle of testing (ie, the first 4-5 user tests you try), you are not yet ready for the Buyer. You need to refine the overall product & solution design by talking to Impact Owners first.
Once you have a solution that Impact Owners jump on and are dying to have on hand, they will introduce you to their Buyers for future development, testing, and sales.
(Most sprints will actually go Impact Owner --> End User --> Buyer, because your Impact Owner will want to be confident in the viability of your workflow and enablement before expending social capital with their Buyer. Teams very early in the concept stage will want to talk to End Users before Impact Owners.)
STEP 4: GET IN TOUCH WITH AN IMPACT OWNER THROUGH A WARM LEAD
At this point, you just need to get in touch with 2 Impact Owners. There is no single way to do this, but here are some common strategies:
a - Who do you already know?
In most cases, you are working on this product because you have some prior exposure to the industry. So, this is the time to reach out and rekindle acquaintances. If your existing contacts are already too close (eg, because you've talked to them a million times about the idea already), ask them to introduce other users at this point.
b - Leverage your personal networks
Over our many projects, I've found that the most common source of Cycle 1 users is the experiment team's personal social networks.
Startups:
For founders, one variable is always, "What is the best use of all my social capital?" I've found that connecting to your first half dozen Impact Owner users is the most effective use of general / replenishable social capital -- even above investor intros, because building strong Impact Owner relationships will have higher impact on your chance to raise than yet another pitch opportunity.
However, save mid tier social capital for reaching high quality users in Cycle 2 (ie, user tests after your first pivot & redesign will have more substance and lead to higher chance of sales), and save high tier social capital for post-mvp sales.
Corporate teams:
For teams working inside a larger org, don't hesitate to ask other teammates to use their personal networks. Supply scripts for them.
c - Start with an End User instead to network to an Impact Owner
There's never enough testing with end users. If it's easier to reach one, start there so you can learn from them and have them introduce you to their Impact Owner after the test.
d - Don't use a recruitment agency
Early stage testing is about quality, not quantity. I have never seen a user recruitment agency do an acceptable job of finding enterprise users. Go for the warm lead.
STEP 5: CONVINCE PEOPLE TO TEST WITH YOU IN A HIGHLY AUTHENTIC, RELATIONAL, WARM, CUSTOM MESSAGE
You message needs to convey the following:
a - you genuinely, authentically, just need them to do you a big favor
b - you and your team are here to truly give them your undivided attention and make very significant product choices as a direct result of what they share
c - you are talking to a tiny number of people, and they are one of them
d - a small clarifying dab of what your product actually is and what's cool about it, including your credibility drop / social proof if that wasn't already covered in the intro
It also needs to use a normal conversational email voice, not a formalized voice.
Check this out: You, reader, are a busy person. You probably work for or have a company. Suppose I would like you to user test a major Prototype Thinking product with me.
Request Version #1 (a typical recruitment request)
Hi Reader,
My name is J, and I'm a researcher on the product team at PTL. We're running a study to see what you would want from a Prototype Thinking Toolkit product for better user testing. Would you be willing to spare 15 mins of your time for a short phone call to give us feedback on some ideas? I promise we will be quick.
Please let us know your availability here. Thank you so much for your time!
Request Version #2 (the prototype thinking approach)
Dear Reader,
Hi! My name is J and I am building a new product here at PTL. I am reaching out because, honestly, I would love to ask you for a huge favor.
After a decade of consulting, we are building a self-serve Prototype Thinking toolkit for user testing. (The aim is to help teams solve product-market-fit 6 months faster). We are still in early stages of it and trying to figure out how to structure it and what is most important to include.
Would you be willing to talk to us for a 30-min, 1:1 zoom call? Your feedback and advice will help us shape the future of the PTL Toolkit and make it accessible to thousands of others.
At this point, we're only meeting with 5-6 people, because we want to give you feedback our undivided attention. If you would be willing to help us out, it will really make a huge difference!
Thanks so much for your time! If you're up for it, please let me know your availability on XYZ days, or just schedule here.
Why this works
You see how, in the second version, I asked for twice as much time, but you are actually far more likely to agree to it?
It's not about respecting their time:
People do not decline user tests because of the cost: they accept because of the reward.
Most people hate user testing because it makes them feel like a number -- yet another voice in a pile of a hundred people. The true reward of user testing is feeling utterly heard and listened to, and that the responses you share will actually change things for the other person.
So from the first contact moment of recruiting onward, through the entire test and the followup after, you have to make them feel that your company is fully responsive to what they say and the reality of their lives. To make them willing to be intimate and authentic with you, you have to lead with authenticity and vulnerability first: exposing the vulnerability of your need in recruitment, then the vulnerability of your design in testing, but in the end you build something stronger together in a deeply collaborative way.
Now you can see why this is also the first step of the sales journey.
STEP 6: FOLLOW THROUGH TO GRADUALLY BUILD A SALES RELATIONSHIP
An actual user testing guide is outside the scope of this post, but our standard user testing guide is here for the curious, or run it your own way.
The most important thing to do is, during the test itself, go back and forth with the user and adapt your prototype & designs in response to what they are saying. This both gives them the visceral experience of your being responsive to them, and allows them to visualize a product that is built in the image of exactly what they're looking for.
Once a team runs a user test well and does a great job of the relational back-and-forth, unless the value proposition is just clearly wrong, the user will almost always be happy to follow up.
Budget 3-5 mins at the end of the test for relationship development
No matter how well the test is going, how much you want to ask more questions, the most valuable thing to do at the end of the test is to save 5 mins for followup planning.
Ask:
if you can follow up with the next stage of the design
for introductions to more users
if appropriate, if they want to be looped into the pilot
Once you have your first batch of 4-5 successful user tests, you should be able to network out from there to cover most user recruitment for the foreseeable future.
Ultimately, the users who shot down most of your design and see you rebuild it in their image are the ones who will become your most powerful evangelists.