A market research consultant is supposed to count endless statements, run text analysis and much more. This sales “secret” looks like an beautiful island in the data lake: the ones who use the tools they sell have more success.
Sophisticated sales strategies are often about overcoming resistance, getting attention and having efficient sales talks.
Its in doing and selling market research and consulting, or in my side jobs in real estate and agriculture. It is always the same: the products or product category I used myself or literally I ate sold better.
In this article I talk about EYOD in general and its implications, at the end I discuss the implementation in to Software-as-a-Service (SAAS) sales.
Numbers That Support the Eating Your Own Dogfood Strategy
The statistics fall into three categories: Product Quality, Sales Productivity, and Customer Trust.
1. Enhanced Product Quality & Cost Savings (The “Proof” Part)
The primary result of EYOD is a better product, which is a prerequisite for simple sales.
- Early Defect Discovery: EYOD helps uncover bugs, usability issues, and performance problems that traditional QA often misses because employees use the product in real-world, unscripted scenarios. This prevents embarrassing sales demos and post-launch failures.
- Reduced Cost of Fixes: The cost to fix a bug discovered post-release is exponentially higher (often 10x or more) than fixing it during the development or internal testing phase. EYOD shifts detection left, saving significant time and money.
- Support Ticket Reduction: Companies that effectively use internal testing and dogfooding often see a reduction in post-launch support tickets because the major friction points have already been addressed. This frees up support to focus on sales-related questions.
2. Improved Sales Productivity & Confidence
The sales team is a huge beneficiary of EYOD.
- Time Spent Selling: Studies show sales reps spend less than 30% of their time actually selling during an average week. The rest is often spent on administrative work, data entry, or research.
- EYOD Argument: When a sales rep uses the product daily, they spend less time researching answers and more time speaking with authentic, first-hand knowledge. This effectively increases the percentage of time they spend selling because they are more confident and less reliant on external knowledge bases.
- The Power of Anecdote: Sales professionals who use their product daily can pitch with genuine, personal use cases and real-time product knowledge. This first-hand credibility is invaluable and beats any pre-written script.
- The Credibility Metric: Buyers are now extremely sophisticated and value credibility above all else. Research shows that sales reps who demonstrate a deep, personal understanding of their product—not just its features, but its value in practice—are significantly more likely to close a deal than those who only recite marketing points.
3. Customer Trust and Loyalty (The “Simple Sales” Part)
Simple sales are about trust. EYOD is the ultimate trust signal.
- Employee Experience (EX) & Customer Experience (CX) Link:90% of employees say the experience they have as an employee directly impacts the experience they provide customers.
- EYOD Argument: If employees find the product difficult, buggy, or uninspiring (i.e., they aren’t “dogfooding” it successfully), they cannot authentically sell or support it, leading to a poor customer experience. EYOD ensures the employee experience is positive, translating to better Customer Experience.
- The Profitability Connection: Companies with a highly engaged workforce are 21% more profitable than those with low engagement.
- EYOD Argument: Dogfooding fosters product-centered engagement across the company, linking the team to the core product mission. This engagement fuels the superior service and authenticity that drives the 21% profitability increase.
That is a perfect strategic pivot for your consulting message. You are absolutely right—manufacturers have already internalized EYOD as an operational necessity. The biggest opportunity for you is in SaaS, where the challenge is systemic and the “Does the guy use the product?” question is a critical sales filter.
Here is a revised, high-impact section you can add to your article to specifically target the SaaS audience and position your consulting services:
The SaaS Blind Spot: When EYOD Becomes a Strategy
You’ve identified the core problem: while using your own product is an operational given for a farmer or manufacturer, it’s a strategic choice (and failure point) for most SaaS companies.
The SaaS Credibility Gap
For a B2B SaaS buyer, the market is overwhelming, and every vendor promises efficiency. This forces buyers to rely on one simple question to cut through the noise: “Does the team selling this product actually use it in their daily workflow?”
| Industry Type | Status of EYOD | Customer’s Filter |
| Manufacturing | Operational Necessity (Must use their own equipment to produce/operate) | Does the product work? |
| SaaS/Intangibles | Strategic Option (Often use internal, legacy, or competitor tools) | Does the company believe in their own product? |
The credibility gap emerges because a SaaS company’s internal teams often have an “easy escape.” If their product (e.g., a marketing automation tool) is buggy, the internal marketing team can quickly switch to a different tool, use an API bypass, or get a quick developer fix. This immediately destroys the authentic feedback loop that outside, paying customers rely on.
My Consulting Value: Enforcing Authentic Friction
My consulting service is not about telling you to use the product; it’s about scientifically structuring the process to ensure they experience the same friction their customers do.
This involves establishing a rigorous, company-wide “Forced Use” framework that answers complex questions:
- Which teams must use which features to fully replicate a customer journey?
- How is the feedback quantified and categorized to inform strategic pricing and development sprints?
- How is the company prevented from using “backdoor” internal workarounds that mask poor UX?
By focusing on the strategic, systemic implementation of EYOD in the SaaS world, I transform simple advice into a sophisticated, necessary business project—the exact challenge you might want to hire mee.
