This is my second post in a 3 part series on why I enjoy speaking to people about ecoVent. In Part I, I discussed the value of hearing people’s initial responses and using their insights to continue hashing out our idea. Sometimes, the reaction is too preachy for anyone’s good, as is the case with the the “I Know Your Idea (IKYI: Ick · yee)” guy. In this post, I will describe the Circle of Pumped – the excitement and sensation I get when people who hear about ecoVent get excited and in turn get me even more pumped up.
A great benefit of talking to people about our system is the affirmation and enthusiasm I receive. The first time I heard Dip pitch ecoVent, I was fired up. My excitement continually increases as we keep making strides to putting the ecoVent system in your home. One of the most encouraging forms of feedback we have received are from the folks I call our ‘Future Customers’.
The Future Customer is the person who cuts me off while I’m describing our system’s benefits and says “YES! I can’t stand that my _____ room is always so cold or hot! I need your system.” These folks are so enthused about our idea that they don’t need to hear the whole of it to understand what we are doing. They get excited and in turn add fuel to the flames that get me fired up… It’s the Circle of Pumped – when I tell people about our idea, and they are excited, and I get even more excited. What an awesome perk of sharing our idea.
A few weeks back, I was catching up with my friend Jaron, who I’ve been friends with since high school. We’ve gone longer than we should have since catching up (MBA life will do that to you). I started telling Jaron about our system and he immediately turned into a Future Customer. Jaron has always been a very deliberate consumer who has a strong knack for DIY projects and only buys high-quality stuff. He bought his house 1.5 years ago right before he got married. Once Jaron was “on board,” I shot him my favorite Future Customer question: “how much would you pay for it?”
This answer to this question is very telling. It helps gauge (a) the extent of the pain point – how much they value comfort, (b) the Future Customer’s understanding of the system complexity and (c) their confidence in ecoVent’s ability to make their home more comfortable and save them a boat load on their heating and cooling costs.
Usually, the first number I get is way low – a few hundred dollars. I then explain just how pervasive the ecoVent hardware is and tell them our target price range. Some people suddenly shirk their excitement. Jaron didn’t. He said very levelheadedly that home upgrades cost money. He recently carpeted a room, which cost upwards of $1,000. Jaron gets it.
The more Future Customers I speak to, the more I want to go out and tell people about our system. It’s great encouragement and fuels our drive. It’s the Circle of Pumped.