It is so simple to mistake "enthusiasm" for "demand" in a sales call. When you do this, you can wind up building the wrong thing for months to years (trust me)

It is so simple to mistake "enthusiasm" for "demand" in a sales call. When you do this, you can wind up building the wrong thing for months to years (trust me)

You'll hear things like:
- "This is awesome!"
- "I can see how this would be massively helpful!"
- "Our company would definitely benefit from this."
- "This totally resonates."

These things sound like demand, but usually aren't.

What you're really looking for: Is the potential customer fitting it into a project they personally are trying to get done, now?

Which sounds like this:
- "Wait, weird coincidence - I'm actually trying to solve this right now."

When you find demand, potential customers lean in and pull more information out of you. They will be fitting your product into their world:
- "So we have XYZ system, and don't want our teams to leave that system. How do you interface with XYZ?"

Contrast these with the questions an enthusiastic no-demander might ask:
- "How are you going to deal with X in the future?"
- "What if Google does this?"

If you know what you're looking for - them fitting it into a current project / priority - you can avoid getting happy ears and conflating enthusiasm with demand. And when someone is expressing enthusiasm, not demand, you can cut through the conversation and say - "oh sounds like this isn't relevant for you, right now - I want to hear about that." And you learn real things much faster.

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