A GTM leader at a startup recently vented to me about their customer’s underwhelming reaction to a feature that had been demanded for ages.

“This feature is an industry first,” they said. “Every time we demoed it, customers told us they couldn’t wait to get their hands on it. Then we launched…and there was crickets.”

Never have I ever, been more happy to share my experience and reassure them that everything’s going to be okay. When it comes to feature launches, the disconnect between initial enthusiasm vs actual adoption usually comes down to stated vs. revealed preferences. Show someone a slick demo and of course they’ll express interest; who doesn’t want to say yes to something that seems cool? True preferences are only revealed when customers get hands-on experience and understand the value they’ll gain and the effort required to make the feature work. The reality is, you have to put in the work — handholding your initial customers and educating the market about your product’s value.

So stay the course and the persistence will pay off. Eventually word will spread. When you approach new customers, they’ll already be familiar with your pitch because they’ve heard about it from others. If you’ve built a great product, they’ll even start calling you, asking, “What is this? This other company seems to be using it; can I have it too?”

The truth is, there are no shortcuts to grinding through educating the market one customer at a time. Every successful product, service, or feature you see didn’t become an overnight success. It took the hard work and dedication of people willing to spend enormous time and effort in customer education and driving early adoption.