192 | Creating Demand for Solutions People Don’t Realize They Need with Sheri Chaney Jones

How do you sell someone a product they don’t know they need? 

When Sheri Chaney Jones launched her impact management platform, most of her customers didn’t even know what impact management was. A few years later, it’s become an industry standard.

Sheri is a renowned social entrepreneur and impact measurement expert. With over two decades of experience, she has transformed the efficacy of nonprofits and government organizations through data-driven strategies. As the founder of Measurement Resources Company and SureImpact, she's dedicated to enhancing social sector performance. Sheri is also an author, professor, and advocate for women's equity, holding degrees from Central Michigan University and The Ohio State University. 

Create Your Own Category 

As a consultant, Sheri’s job was to build impact measurement frameworks to help nonprofit organizations understand the effectiveness of their programs. She worked with each client to determine which data to collect and how to collect it, but the process was very manual. She started searching for software that would keep that information at their fingertips, and when she couldn’t find it, she created it.

When Sheri launched SureImpact in 2020, it was the first impact management platform on the market–a term that no one else was using, but her competitors have since rebranded to include. 

From Service Provider to Software Company

In Sheri’s consulting business, she knew how to do every job. Launching SureImpact was a new challenge because she didn’t know how to code software. While she’s still the CEO, she had to learn how to pitch angel investors, find the right team, and report to a board.

As the first software of its kind, SureImpact has done a lot of market education. In 2020, most nonprofits didn’t account for impact measurement in their budget because they didn’t know it was possible. 

In the early stages, Sheri hesitated to leverage her personal brand and network. As a tech CEO, she didn’t think personal branding was as relevant as it had been to her consulting company. But she realized it was her experience that inspired SureImpact–and that if she wanted to break into the market, she needed to share her story. 

Now, Sheri leverages her platform through speaking engagements, blogs, webinars, and even a book: Impact & Excellence: Data-Driven Strategies for Aligning Mission, Culture, and Performance in Nonprofit and Government Organizations.  As a result, SureImpact has increased new customers by 50%. 

Enjoy this episode with founder Sheri Chaney Jones…

Soundbytes

8:58-9:15
“When we went talk about branding, when we went to market in 2020, we called ourselves the first impact management platform on the market. And what's been fascinating is, since launching, some of our largest competitors have rebranded themselves as an impact management platform.” 

14:23-14:36
“So prior to even launching, launching true impact, I had been traveling, speaking at conferences, talking about how to create these data driven, high performing cultures. And so we've just leveraged that platform I'd already had.”

19:59-20:39
“If I write and start with a place of gratitude and start my day with writing everything I'm grateful for, and then maybe my wishes or my prayers. Then once I get through that laundry list of stuff, what's so interesting is a new level of inspiration will show up, and I'll start writing in the third person, which is so fun. It's so fun when my journaling takes that shift where I'm writing to myself, and it's almost like my inner self, or the self that has that wisdom or intuition is guiding me and telling me what to do.”

Quotes

“I’ve always been fascinated by using data to predict performance.”

“For entrepreneurs and businesses, we have some pretty common metrics we use. But these non-profits and social sector organizations have to add another layer of metrics to the conversation: are they changing lives and changing circumstances?”

“I didn't find the product on the market that was solving the problem that I thought needed to be solved. So we built a product for the future.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

SureImpact website: https://www.sureimpact.com/ 

Measurement Resources Company: https://measurementresourcesco.com/ 

Connect with Sheri on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherichaneyjones/