Setting the Scene
The foundation of building an effective outbound prospecting process starts with one mantra: "Sending the right message to the right person at the right time brings success.” Part of finding that success starts with building a Product Market Fit Canvas. A Product Market Fit Canvas is a way for you to capture all of the details around an outbound campaign. It starts with the following key questions:
- Who should you target?
- What problems can you address or solve for your targets?
- What solution can you offer to mitigate or solve those problems?
- What value does your solution or product offer for your prospects?
- What impact or benefits can your solution or product bring for your prospects?
- What data points can you offer to support your claims?
You can track all of these details for each of your outbound campaigns with a Product Market Fit Canvas.
Data Point | A | B | C, D, E, etc. |
---|---|---|---|
Who: Company | |||
Who: Titles | |||
Problem | |||
Solution | |||
Value Prop | |||
Impact/Benefits | |||
Proof Points |
Each column in your Product Market Fit Canvas (A, B, C, D, etc.) represents a different outreach campaign (or, in Apollo parlance, a sequence). Each customer segment should represent a different campaign because each will require a different set of targeting requirements and messaging details when you reach out to them.
Building out your Product Market Fit Canvas can be laborious and time-consuming; however, the sharper and more refined the details you include, the better chance you have at achieving success in your outreach.
Apollo Example
The table below depicts a Product Market Fit Canvas with details filled out about potential Apollo customers.
Data Point | A | B |
---|---|---|
Who: Company | SMB Startups | Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies |
Who: Titles | Founders | Director of Business Development |
Problem |
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Solution |
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Value Prop |
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Impact/Benefits |
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Proof Points | 5,000 SMB startups like XYZ do ABC | 1,000 recruiting customers like XYZ |
In this table, you can see that we have created campaigns for two different customer company segments:
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SMB Startups
- Founders
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Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies
- Director of Business Development
For the SMB Startup company type, we have identified Founders as the title we want to target. For the Mid-Market Recruiting Agency company type, we have identified the Director of Business Development as the title we want to focus on. In some cases, you may want to address multiple titles at the same company. In outbound sales, this is referred to as creating micro-segments. The image below reflects a Product Market Fit Canvas for one company with multiple titles.
Data Point | B1 | B2 |
---|---|---|
Who: Company | Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies | Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies |
Who: Titles | Director of Business Development | Director of Talent Acquisition |
Problem |
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Solution |
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Value Prop |
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Impact/Benefits |
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Proof Points | 1,000 recruiting customers like XYZ |
Practical Exercise
Create a Product Market Fit Canvas. You can do this in a spreadsheet, in a table, or in whichever business tool you feel most comfortable using. Don’t worry about filling in any data just yet. We will address each portion of the Canvas in the subsequent articles in this course.
Next Steps
Now that you have created your Product Market Fit Canvas to log your research and data, continue to the next article in this course, "Build an Outbound Sales Process: Target Real Buyers." In this next module, you will learn more about how to select the companies and personas that you should include in the targeting portion of your Product Market Fit Canvas.