Company growth as indirect proof claim

We continue the section on proof claims, which are pieces of evidence you include in your prospecting conversations to demonstrate results in an attempt to convince prospects of the value of your products.

Another popular indirect proof claim is company growth. You tell your prospects they should do business with you because your company has grown200% in the last year. Growth signals that you are acquiring new customers. If you are acquiring new customers, the prospect might infer you are doing something right. So, business growth is a simple, quantifiable, and effective way to signal that you are reliable as a business partner.

However, growth is always easier when you are small. Growth could simply hide a small size. Growing 200% could mean you went from one customer to three customers. It certainly is not an indicator that you are a reliable business partner.

So growth must be combined with size for the indirect proof claim to be solid.

Also, growth in what? Business volume or number of customers? Growth in business volume could mean that you are getting more customers or that the same customers are buying more from you. In both cases, this is good information. However, growth in business volume could also mean you have raised your prices, and this would probably not be seen as a good signal from your prospects.

Growth in the number of customers is more specific, but companies can find curious ways to inflate their customer base without increasing their business volume. They could change the pricing strategy, offering free trial periods. If a customer is using a free trial, do they really count as customers?

If possible, combining both indicators could lead to better results. If one is to be picked, probably business volume is better. Prospects have an opportunity to verify pricing, and if your business increases volume only by raising prices, it is something they will be able to see early on in the sales conversation.

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