Growth Notes: Inside-Out vs Outside-In Thinking

If every start-up and firm leader thinks their business is the best, why do so many not make it?

Or, why do some companies struggle to scale at the rate they want to?

During my leadership years, I’ve worked with many organizations/practices that are confident in their product or service and the features it boasts. 

 Almost defiant that theirs is the best and everyone should be buying it.

They believe in the offering, how it works, and what it can allow people to do.

And the thing is—I do too. They have unique products and services that are value-added.

But they aren’t growing like they want to. So what gives?

Well, there can be a lot of reasons organizations struggle to scale, but one of the most common ones I see is companies take an inside-out vs outside-in approach.

Today, I’ll share the difference between the two and why looking outside-in is essential to continued growth and scaling.

Defining Inside-Out Thinking

Early in my tenure as a senior leader, I had a conversation with another leader in the organization.

“What do you believe has made the greatest contribution to our success to this point?”, I asked.

Their response went something like…..“Our structure. We’ve built our business in an intentional way that aligns the right team members to the right business units.”

Reflecting back on that conversation, I respect their input and believe their reasoning for our success was wrong.

So often, I hear organizations pointing to internal reasons as to why they are successful, why clients should work with them, or what will contribute to their future growth.

Internal reasons like:

• The data or technology behind their product / service

• The structure of their organization

• The expertise of the people within the organization

• The level of care taken with clients and customers

These are all examples of inside-out thinking.

Inside-out thinking is when we’re focused on US (OUR product/service or how WE are built) and assigning those things as the reasoning behind our past or future success.

The problem with inside-out thinking is that ultimately, our beliefs around our solutions and the way our business is structured don’t matter to our customers!

Customers don’t care what features our products have or how we’ve aligned our people.

Customers care about their business. They care about whether our products/services will make a meaningful difference toward their ability to achieve their goals.

That's it.

So instead, we have to think outside-in vs inside-out.

The Importance of Thinking Outside-In

Outside-in thinking means shifting our lens to view our solutions from the customer's perspective.

We might think our offering is great for various reasons, but do our customers see it the same way?

Put more simply: Why should customers care about what we offer?

If we can't answer this question, we're going to struggle to communicate the value of our offerings, achieve product-market fit, and scale.

Here are some questions to guide you in the right direction:

• What are the issues your solution helps your customers solve?

• What outcome do you help your customers achieve?

• How does your solution help your customers transform?

• What is the benefit of that outcome to your customers?

• What is the cost of not addressing this issue?

You’ll notice these questions are focused on the customer—not on us.

Thinking outside-in ensures we know how our solution fits in the market and gives us the right to sell to our ideal customers in a way that addresses what’s important to them.

Otherwise?

We’re left scratching our heads, wondering why no one wants to adopt what we believe, or even know, is a great solution.

How to Start Thinking Outside-In

Look, thinking outside-in requires gaining the perspective of your customers.

If you are a team of software developers selling to Partners at professional services firms, you need to gain the perspective of Partners or other senior leaders.

There’s a few ways you can do this:

• Hosting focus groups with people who match your ideal customer profile

• Doing less talking and more listening on your sales calls

• Asking for time with someone who represents your ideal customer to learn about what’s important to them

• Bringing someone onto your team who represents the customer and their way of thinking

There are really no shortcuts. Talk to people and listen!

What are they trying to achieve?
Why is that important to them?
What roadblocks are they experiencing?

Again, I’ll emphasize the power of listening.

Listen to what they say. Listen to how they say it. Listen to what’s important to them.

The more you can start thinking and speaking like your ideal customer, the more likely you are to earn the right to sell your solution to them.

That’s what thinking outside-in is all about.

Action Steps

This week, take a look at how you are presenting your solutions to the marketplace.

Look at your website.
Look at your pitch decks.
Review what your salespeople are saying in meetings.

Find your proof points.

Is your communication reflective of inside-out or outside-in thinking?

Are you describing the benefits and features of your solution (inside-out)?

Or are you communicating the value and benefits that your solution brings to your customers (outside-in)?

If you want your organization to scale, thinking inside-out won’t get you there.

Think outside-in.

With intention,
Alan D Whitman