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Signals and practice

Understanding the customer to build traction

Origin: D365-IRL · Day 375 · October 6, 2026

Carlos Ocampo · Field Note #049

English translation of the original Spanish publication. Original dates, authorship and documentary images are preserved.

Understanding the user and the buyer helps frame and test commercial assumptions before increasing sales effort.

Watch the D365-IRL session behind this note

What should a business validate before trying to sell more?

Illustrative D365-IRL thumbnail, Day 375: Understanding the customer to build traction.
Editorial thumbnail supplied by Carlos Ocampo for this session. Illustration; not documentary evidence.

Before trying to sell more, clarify who uses the solution, who decides to buy it and how to reach both. Then test the value proposition, channels and sales assumptions against the market’s response. The session suggests recognizing the business’s stage: prepare the offer, test it, generate sales and revenue, and use that evidence to frame the next questions about growth.

The user and the buyer: two possible conversations

In the October 6 sales session, the customer profile provided a starting point for organizing sales work. Understanding whom we want to reach changes the questions we ask and where we look for answers.

A participant introduced a lifting-platform project intended for older adults. In his account, their adult children could be involved in the purchase. That detail opened a useful distinction: the person using a solution may have different needs from the person deciding to buy or pay for it.

The discussion also considered the context of use. In this case, the conditions of the home mattered. A customer profile should help us understand whether a solution fits a specific situation, alongside interest and ability to purchase.

The session mentioned psychographic characteristics, behavior, context and sectors as dimensions for developing that profile. We retain them here as research questions without reconstructing the visual content of the slides.

Finding partners close to the audience

One proposal was to explore people, organizations and places already in contact with the intended audience. The underlying question was where that audience spends time and whom they consult when addressing related needs.

This opens a prospecting route: identify possible partners, discuss their relationship with the audience and test whether a relevant opportunity exists. The options discussed were ideas to pilot. No completed partnership was announced, and no channel was shown to have produced sales.

The conversation also considered a potential partner responsible for financing. The sales question concerned separating the sale of the product from credit administration. The discussion does not support evaluating a specific financial offer or recommending an institution; the possibility remained exploratory.

Looking at competitors to clarify the offer

The appearance of a similar offer brought the discussion toward market research. Which alternatives does the customer know? How are those alternatives gaining visibility? Which attributes do they communicate?

Investigating these questions helps us explain our own offer more precisely. A value proposition needs to identify differences that matter to the buyer and gather evidence to support them.

The session included a participant’s technical claims about products and regulation. This note does not adopt them as facts or assess equipment safety. The sales lesson retained here is to investigate alternatives and document the attributes presented to the market.

From a hypothesis to traction

Toward the end, the discussion organized basic questions: what to sell, how, where, to whom and how much we need to sell. Initial answers make it possible to prepare a sales test.

Validation compares what we expected with what happened. Which assumption held up? Which response failed to materialize? What did we learn that changes the next attempt?

The conversation placed traction at the point where sales and revenue are already being generated. From there, the question becomes how to sell more and, eventually, scale. Recognizing the stage helps identify what remains unresolved before adding more sales effort.

This sequence is an editorial synthesis of the spoken explanation. It does not reproduce the exact labels of a slide or establish a universal model of growth.

The customer’s calendar matters too

The final part of the session considered the end of 2026 and budget preparation for 2027. Procurement and human resources were mentioned, alongside training, workplace catering, marketing and advertising services.

The proposed opportunity was to investigate when each organization considers suppliers and commits resources. Calendars vary: a conversation may concern spending for the year ending or needs for the next. Mentioning a season does not demonstrate that budget is available or guarantee a sale.

A test for the next conversation

As an editorial exercise derived from the session, write down who uses your solution and who decides to buy or pay. Choose one assumption about how to reach those people and define what response would help you test it.

This might be a conversation with a potential buyer or an exploratory contact with a partner. Record what you expected, what happened and what you would change. The exercise is not presented as an activity already completed during the session.

Questions from the note

Why distinguish the user from the buyer?

They may be different people with different questions and priorities. Recognizing their involvement helps prepare a sales conversation appropriate to the context.

What is the purpose of researching competitors?

To understand the alternatives available to the customer, how those alternatives are communicated and which differences in our own offer we can substantiate.

What does traction mean in this note?

Sales and revenue showing an observed market response. That evidence informs the next questions about growth; it does not, by itself, guarantee that a business can scale.

Working definition · v0.1

SALES TRACTION

A market response expressed in sales and revenue that allows a business to revisit the assumptions behind its offer and consider its next step. In this note, the term distinguishes observed sales results from expectations formed before a test.

Editorial synthesis of the session’s explanation; not a verbatim quotation or an externally accredited technical definition.

Source and scope

Developed from the 175 segments of the visible YouTube transcript, spanning 0:18 to 22:21, for the session dated October 6, 2026. The player shows a duration of 22:39. The complete available transcript was read; the audio was not directly reviewed, and transcript accuracy was not verified. This English version translates and adapts the Spanish editorial note.

Session recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn11hJ0CG0k Reference passages: profile and buyer, 1:00–5:29; competition and value proposition, 10:00–11:05; channels and context, 12:07–14:08; financing exploration, 14:38–16:40; validation and traction, 16:52–19:09; budgets, 20:27–21:58.

The note selects the sales-related learning. It does not verify claims about safety, regulation, patents, institutions or products. The source does not support reconstructing the material displayed between 6:37 and 6:59. The exercises and definition are editorial work.

Verifiable personal archive. Evidence collection in continuous development.

Next step

Which assumption do you need to test before increasing your sales effort?

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Understanding the customer to build traction | D31 Field Notes