Most founders instinctively try to "push" sales forward: creating urgency, sending non-stop follow-ups, and trying to convince prospects. The actual physics of sales is "pull." When a customer has genuine demand and lacks good options, they will do the work—scheduling meetings, bringing in stakeholders, and asking for information—to acquire your solution.

To determine if you have real demand, analyze who drives the sales process. If you are constantly following up, offering pilots, and pushing for meetings, that's 'push.' If the potential customer is proactively scheduling next steps and asking for contracts, that's 'pull'—the only scalable force.

The clearest signal of product-market fit isn't just revenue growth; it's the shift from proactive, outbound sales to reactive, inbound interest. When potential customers start seeking you out, filling forms, and requesting quotes based on reputation and word-of-mouth, you've crossed the chasm from pushing a product to pulling a market.

To test for genuine 'pull,' a founder should challenge a prospect's need rather than sell to it. By asking questions like, 'Why can't you just do this with your existing options?' you force the prospect to articulate why their problem is urgent and unsolvable. This 'leaning back' approach makes high-intent buyers sell you on their problem.

Don't confuse customer enthusiasm or agreement with genuine buying intent ('pull'). Real pull is when the customer proactively initiates the next step in the sales process. Words like "this would solve our pain points" are not actions and often create false positives in the pipeline.

A positive vibe on a sales call is misleading. The true signal of buying intent is when the prospect actively requests or initiates the next step. If you, the seller, have to suggest it, it's a sign that you haven't tapped into their 'pull' and the deal is weak.

Buyers often volunteer the exact details of their problem—their project, its urgency, and their frustration with current options. However, traditional sales training teaches founders to ignore these cues, interrupt the customer, and pivot to pitching their solution, thereby missing critical information.

Founders mistakenly believe sales proficiency is paramount. In reality, sales skill is a downstream concern. If you identify a customer with immense "pull"—someone so stuck they'd do anything for a solution—even a terrible sales call will succeed. The priority is finding that desperate customer, not perfecting the pitch.

Most sales conversations are polite but unhelpful. The key is to find a customer who both feels comfortable telling you the blunt truth ('you're thinking about it totally wrong') and has genuine 'pull' or a desperate need for a solution. Truth from someone without a real problem is just noise.