Build an Outbound Sales Process: Create a Product Market Fit Canvas

Article author
Eric Zrinsky
Updated

Build an Outbound Sales Process: Create a Product Market Fit Canvas

Setting the Scene

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.

 
Hard Work Pays Off

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.

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Apollo Example

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
  • Need more opportunities
  • Hard to build outbound system from scratch
  • Takes forever to reach out to hiring managers at companies looking to hire for their specific roles
Solution
  • All in One
  • 200M Contact Database
  • Emailing Engine
  • Database of all job postings and hiring managers
  • Email Platform
Value Prop
  • Build a best-practice outbound engine in minutes
  • Find hiring managers with active job postings for their specific roles
  • Get your emails/reach out in seconds
Impact/Benefits
  • Generate hundreds of qualified sales meetings
  • Save hours every day
  • Generate hundreds of opportunities
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:

  • SMB Startups
    • Founders
  • 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
  • Takes forever to reach out to hiring managers at companies looking to hire for their specific roles
 
Solution
  • Database of all job postings and hiring managers
  • Email Platform
 
Value Prop
  • Find hiring managers with active job postings for their specific roles
  • Get your emails/reach out in seconds
 
Impact/Benefits
  • Save hours every day
  • Generate hundreds of opportunities
 
Proof Points 1,000 recruiting customers like XYZ  

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Practical Exercise

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.

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Next Steps

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.

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