You will lose 96% of the market.

If you want people to buy what you sell, they need to be in a problem-solving mode.

They need to genuinely believe they have a problem.

A high priority problem. Higher than the other problems they have.

Otherwise, they have no reason to change how they currently operate.

And you limit your target market.

You probably know about the tech adoption curve. 

What you might not know is that it is grounded in behavioural psychology. 

It is based on how humans deal with change.

84% of your buyers don't want change.

They don't believe they have a problem. Or that it's big enough to need solving.

To get them into problem-solving mode, you need to educate them.

You need commercial insight that educates, challenges and inspires them.

Otherwise, selling to them is pointless. They will either ignore you. Or waste your time.

Managing change gets worse when you start selling.

73% of buyers who have agreed to change, get 'cold feet'.

In the later parts of the sales process, they start second-guessing their decision.

Matt Dixon has confirmed this in his latest research based on over 2 million sales calls. 

"The average performer has a win rate of 26%. The average high performer has a win rate of 59%. What set's them apart is how they challenge the status quo."

Matt Dixon, Author of "Challenger Sale"

High performing sales reps deal with 'cold feet' moments using insight.

They use tailored communication to show that the buyer must change.

That status quo is not an option.

And they can only do this if they are equipped with the right content.

This is exactly what Hubspot were doing in their early days.

"Modern selling is about helping people understand they have a problem. And making that problem real  for them."

Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot

Without quality commercial insight, they can't deal with 'cold feet' moments.

Without quality content, your reps can't close.

Their average win rate drops from 59% to 26%.

And this is based on data from established B2B companies (IBM, Salesforce, Hubspot, etc).

Who have experienced commercial teams, brand recognition and Product-Market Fit.

Of the 103 funded B2B startups we analysed last year, not a single one had all 3.

26% is the absolute best case scenario for your startup without quality content.

There is no pie left.

Your chance of success in your target market.

How much pie you can eat.

Dropped from 59% to 4%.

Without quality content you can't force change in buyers.

You can only go after 16% of the market.

And your reps can close at most 26% of deals.

That means only 4% of the buyers you engage will actually buy.

Scaling a startup is hard. The odds are stacked against you.

Without quality content it is 15X harder.