Smith.ai Receptionists for Live Calls & Chats

In Q2 and Q3 2017, word got out about Smith.ai. Our growth began to exceed 30% quarter over quarter, and clients were rushing in. But we couldn't hire fast enough using our existing channels. Our hiring strategy was great, but it took time. In an effort to match demand, we lowered our standards for typing speed, reading comprehension, communication, and more, believing our amazing technology and emphasis on personal improvement could make up for it. As you can probably guess, that's not what happened. We lost a few customers over typos and mishandled calls, and quickly changed course to get back on track.

We lost a few customers, sure, but the result improved our company: We created a highly-regimented, wide-funnel hiring pipeline, made our high standards concrete, built thorough automated tests before the candidates even talked to us, and found new, reliable sources for extremely high quality candidates.

I was grabbing breakfast with Donna Wells, then-CEO of Mindflash and ex-CMO of Mint.com, where we had worked together. Donna was just dumping knowledge on me to (hopefully) accelerate our acquisition and growth. She had learned many lessons since taking over at Mindflash.

The advice she gave me then (paraphrased through my own brain-filter) has remained one of the most important things through the growth of our company:

Your lowest-paying customers can often become your highest costs.

Since then, not a week goes by where we don't think about this amazing advice and plan accordingly. Yes, low pricing (compared to our competitors) got us noticed in 2015, but it also attracted people who need low pricing, not high quality. We could have one customer paying $50/mo and another paying $500/mo. Both require support. But the $500/mo customer does not require 10x the support. This meant that the lower-LTV customers actually cost our business more. And that's a problem when you provide equal levels of support and service to all plans offered.

We've grown significantly since then and our pricing reflects understanding of expansion and support costs. However, that advice has kept a significant blind spot in check along the way and remains one of the most important lessons we have learned. I believe we will continually adjust the bottom tiers of our pricing in the years to come, as well.

Aaron had just finished his remodel, and Justin was just starting one. We called every business and contractor we knew, from shed builders to painters to realtors to understand their business, specifically their pain points. As we dug in it was clear there was a common theme: They couldn't answer calls (and absolutely not facebook chats) while they were doing client work.