Its low cost, its bought by millions of consumers, simple to operate, has a high fit and finish and it's ready to use immediately after purchase. And although proctor and gamble would like lifetime customers for its tooth paste, it has a very low switching cost. And sometimes even a coupon can influence an individual purchase decision. Have you ever met a p and g sales representative who's extolled the virtues of cress versus colgate? Of course, not. Succeed as a product, crest must deliver a product that is bought, rather than sold. The g e jet engine typifies the sales intensive product. The engine's price tag is in the millions of dollars. It's sold to about a hundred airplane manufacturers and requires extensive engineering and customization after the sale. It's the ultimate selling experience because it's a design win. Jet engine manufacturers spend a long time building the products in defining and fulfilling contracts in a very high touch way. It's not surprising you'll never see a g e jet engine offered for sale at walmart or at the supermarket. To win g e must acknowledge that jet engines must be sold. Many start ups would prefer to offer a product that's bought, like car insurance, rather than a product that's sold, like life insurance. But this is where founders sometimes get trapped. The market doesn't care what your preference is. I've met many start ups that say, we want to go to market google. We want a product that's bought. They don't want to hire a big sales force. They want customers to engage their product in a self service way. This is great because it lowers sales costs an marketing costs. And don't get me wrong, high margins and low go to market costs are fantastic. Gogal has a great business. But if you go to market this way with a product that is hard for the customer to understand, deploy and use entirely on their own, you'll most certainly fail. After all, you can't let the elements of your go to market compass be misallined and inconsistent your products. Go to market strategy should reflect what it takes to optimately get distribution of your product. Which is where the seven product variables of leslie's compass come into play. The seven variables are related to price, market size, complexity, fit and finish, business versus consumer and the scope of the customer relationship. In each variable of leslie's compass, marketing in sales are counterbalanced in how you think of resources in focus. The less marketing is harnessed to bring a product to market, the more sales must step in. If sales is not driving the go to market strategy, the more marketing must in nearly every case, either marketing or sales takes the lead in getting the product to customers. Both can play role, but one is the principal driver. So let's talk about the key questions and variables. Leslie's compass asks to tease this out. Question one is about price. Is this a large or small economic decision for the buyer? You can't afford to sell a two dollar tube of tooth baste. The total cost of typical sales rip wouldn't support it. No one goes door to door saying, let me explain the benefits of crest over colgate. But on the other hand, say you've got a jet engine that costs a hundred thousand dollars to build and you need to sell it for more than a million dollars. Now you're in a sales intensive go to market motion. You must explain to the customer how they will get a return on investment using your product. Relative to their alternatives. Question two is about market size. Is it easier for them to find you or for you to find them? In leslie's compass, market size is determined by the number of potential customers rather than the revenues generated by the mark, for example, billions of people need tooth paste, but less than a hundred air frame manufacturers are shopping for jet engines. In our interviews, mark mentioned that veratos original product was an operating system component that the company sold to systems manufacturers as part of their eunuchs operating system. At that time, there were roughly a hundred systems manufacturers, so spending money on ads or on mailing lists didn't make sense. A better strategy was to go to the industry shows, because it was easier for veratos to find customers by finding them there. Question three is about complexity. Can a customer self serve to use the product, or is education required? When it comes to the level of complexity, some products are effortlessly simple, while others require education, manuals and customization for customers to get utility. Jet engines are composed of complex and varied components. While operating a tube a tooth pace is completely self evident.