Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
00:16:40 · Lenny Rachitsky, Jen Abel
[00:16:40] S0: Are there tools to find these emails and things? Is there something you recommend? [00:16:44] S1: Yeah, there's a ton of tools that do enrichment. I'll try LinkedIn first and say, "Hey, I shot you a note on LinkedIn. I just want to make sure you got it." Most people don't check that on a daily basis. But yeah, you have Lemlist and all sorts of these enrichment tools that can give you the email, but I think the number one thing is, assume they're getting hit with hundreds of emails, how are you going to message your storyline to stand out? And that's not easy to do and that's really why I think having, going back to our first episode, why founder-led sales is so important to figure that piece out. [00:17:23] S0: So that was my next question is, what are some examples of two to three sentences, if you have some in your head, maybe even from your current job that you think are good examples of this two-to-three sentence pitch?
00:17:23 · Lenny Rachitsky, Jen Abel
[00:17:23] S0: So that was my next question is, what are some examples of two to three sentences, if you have some in your head, maybe even from your current job that you think are good examples of this two-to-three sentence pitch? [00:17:34] S1: Yeah, I think it comes down to what is the differentiator to what you're offering, not even what do you do 10x better, because to them, it still sounds like a commodity. How are you rethinking the business model? How can you help them rethink the way that they're structuring their team? We are in this flood-the-zone moment of everyone trying to break into the enterprise and the number one thing that breaks into the enterprise is like, "Oh, the way I'm modeling my business unit, here's how I should be thinking about it in the age of AI." And it needs to be different. It can't just be like, "Oh, we'll help you reduce the number of resources here." No, no, no. How are they going to show needle-moving impact to their COO, CEO? If they were to bring it to the board meeting, what would they say about the product, "This product will allow me to do what?" That's the litmus test. [00:18:26] S0: Is this a pitch that you iterate on over time? [00:18:28] S1: Yes. [00:18:28] S0: Because you're probably getting some percentage of people responding. [00:18:32] S1: Yup. [00:18:32] S0: Okay. So the advice is like, "Keep trying to reframe this." [00:18:34] S1: That's exactly right. [00:18:35] S0: Awesome. Okay. Anything else on the first reach out before we get to the next step? [00:18:40] S1: No, I think that's good.
00:18:40 · Jen Abel, Lenny Rachitsky
[00:18:40] S1: No, I think that's good. [00:18:40] S0: Okay. Okay, let's do it. I saw you shaking your head before you said it in case people are confused. Okay. Step two. Step two is basically running the intro call.
00:18:48 · Jen Abel
[00:18:48] S1: Yes. Okay. This is the most important call out of all of them, okay? Because you are setting the tone with how they think about you, how they respect you in your role and your craft. And the information they will tell you on the first call, they will clam up moving forward because it starts to feel like a sales process. So all of the information edge you can gain as a seller is on this first call, okay? So keep it ... And this is what I like to do, super informal. Don't show them anything. Don't show them a demo. Don't show them slides. Focus on them. Have a one-on-one dialogue for 30 minutes, okay? Now again, if they're bringing in a C-suite executive, you better have your founder join that call as well. I don't know any founder that wouldn't want to be in the room with a Fortune 100 C-suite executive. So make sure you bring in your founder if you have that person on. But let's say you had the N minus one, you had the VP up. Okay, super brief, "Hey," and this is how I typically open, "Hey, I'm going to keep this super informal. I don't even know if we need a full 30 minutes." Put them on the back for like, "Oh, this person's not trying to take up my time." "All I would like to do is swap intros. And if it makes sense, we can always get on another call and go much, much deeper, but I just want to better understand who you are and I'd love to share what we are doing and why I specifically reached out to you." So I say, "Would you like to go first?" Always let them go first. Give yourself the edge, right? Because the more information you are receiving before you speak, the more you can frame it and tighten it to what they specifically care about. So-
00:20:29 · Lenny Rachitsky
[00:20:29] S0: And they also aren't sitting there now listening to a pitch.
00:20:31 · Jen Abel
[00:20:31] S1: Yeah, exactly. Now they're talking. Now they're conversing. Now it's like, "Okay, now it's fun. Now this person's not pitching me. I'm in a conversation and a dialogue." Okay, so now you're talking to them and they usually do a very brief open. They're like, "Hey," we didn't get a chance to look up the chief legal officers at SpaceX. Obviously, this is just a case, but whoever that person's name is, "I oversee the legal team and blah, blah, blah." "Okay, okay, great." They usually don't give you much. So they say, "Okay, interesting. How are you thinking about ... Do you guys have an AI mandate going on at the organization? How are you thinking about the existing way you guys are doing work? What are you looking for going into 2027? Does anything need to change?" Ask, "Does anything need to change?" Because again, what they're going to usually default to is what conversations have happened above them and have been transcended down. So the change is usually dictated from the top, which is great, "So what needs to change going into 2027 that you did in 2026 or maybe not at all?" And that's when they start to open up. And again, you don't want to be too pointed of anchoring them towards your product, because again, the more they speak, you can start to pull on the strings that matter. So they could say something along the lines of, I'm making this up at this point, but, "We are really looking to figure out how to bring more of this work in-house and rely far less on external law firms because now we have more tools and capabilities." "Okay, is there a measurement to that right now? What does that look like internally in terms of if you've done that successfully in 2027?" And then they'll say ... You're trying to understand how mature is this thought, right? Okay, so now they're going in and they say they can't really answer that fully. "Okay, why is that important now? Why not wait another year? You guys have so much going on. You just had this massive IPO. What's causing the team to want to reshape this or rework the way that they're managing internally?" And that's usually the moment of where they start to really guide you in terms of how they want to structure their team. So now you're getting all of this information about where they want to go, right? Now when you talk about what you do, now you're the vehicle to get them there, right?