At every stage of a company’s growth journey, there are always many potential customers who cannot be persuaded to trust that a company will deliver its claimed value proposition. Early adopters want to see working product. The early majority wants to see customer proof points. The late majority want multiple independent customer validations. Some companies try to artificially accelerate this process at high cost by over-investing in sales and marketing. I call this “Market Forcing” and its symptoms include poor customer acquisition cost ratios, low funnel conversion rates and low quota attainment.