Should You Prioritize Sales Prospects Or Active Users?
- Harshal
- Jun 16
- 3 min read
The Feedback Pyramid: Depth Over Volume Of Users Vs Buyers
I noticed something strange in a startup. The startup prioritized sales feedback over user feedback. That confused me. Sales input matters for acquisition, but it’s often about one feature needed to move the deal towards a first try — and usually comes from people who haven’t even used the product.
In contrast, product and customer support teams hear problems from real users.
I spent 27 minutes writing this. You need 2 minutes to read this.
Related:
The Feedback Pyramid: Prospects vs. Users
I visualized a reflective pyramid:
On the right, a wide-top pyramid: lots of prospects, few users. No matter many users your startup has, there are a lot more prospects out there.
On the left, a wide-base pyramid: shallow feedback at the top (from prospects), deeper insights at the base (from users who’ve lived with the product).
Sales feedback:
“What’s stopping me from (maybe) buying?”
Sales feedback may come from a decision maker who is not a user.
Sales feedback will only uncover a few needs, because the customer haven’t used the product in their organization yet.
User feedback:
“What’s stopping me from using this well?”
Retain Users Or Acquire Prospects?
I recommend prioritizing customer retention over customer acquisition, because acquiring customers is 5-25x more expensive than retaining customers, as per Harvard Business Review and Bain & Company’s research.
But, this is different from Elena Verna’s 2025 advice to first focus on acquisition growth squad.
Active Users Are Your Best Signals
If someone logs in regularly, they’re already telling you your product matters. That’s a strong signal. Don’t ignore it in favor of chasing prospects who may not convert.
Double down on users:
Watch what they do
Ask what’s hard
Track what they try and abandon
Telemetry, support tickets, and interviews will tell you what needs fixing.
Make Sales Feedback Better
Sales feedback becomes useful when it goes deeper.
1 - Train your team to ask:
“What problem are you trying to solve?”
“What workarounds do you use today?”
“What is painful about your current tool/process?”
They help you understand the whole journey, not just one missing feature.
2 - Or, have product managers join sales calls.
And, use sales recording software like Gong or Fathom.
What If You Only Have a Few Users?
Early-stage startups often face this challenge. How do you avoid building for just one user's quirks?
Use the 3-layer approach:
Product analytics – What are users doing?
Surveys – What do users say they want?
Interviews – Why do they want it?
This mix helps you spot patterns, not one-offs.
Borrow Learnings From Competitors
If you’re even earlier in your startup journey with limited user metadata, look at what competitors are doing. What are they prioritizing? Use that to form hypotheses — then test them with your users. It’s not about copying blindly. It’s about understanding the shape of the problem space.
Ending This Thought
Before chasing more customers, make sure your current ones would choose you again.
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