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I have recently added a new section of sales templates to help startups with sales.
https://www.startupsalescoach.net/templates/
If you have very little sales experience there should be a few things here to help you get started!
I will keep adding more content and structure if startup founders see it as useful.
One of the best ways to be persuasive and influential in sales is to listen.
Listing is not when you stay quiet while your partner speaks.
Listening is active, seeking to really break down what their challenges or opportunities are from their perspective.
Everybody appreciates when they are understood. They are more likely to pay attention to you and seek to understand your message.
Many startup founders, particularly the technical ones get furious when a perfectly qualified sales opportunity return their calls.
How annoying!
The reality is that most of the selling process is in the follow-up:
It is your responsibility to breathe energy into the sales process!
You need to make all the calls, suggest the next steps and help them through these steps. Generally your prospects will not “get around” to doing what they said they will do. You will need to coach them through every step. When they tell you they will call you back, they generally don’t!
Try to apply this thinking when you are running sales for your start-up. It should save some frustration and help you be more successful.
Do you know who your competitors are?
How do you feel about them?
Traditionally we view our competitors from a defensive position as they are often chasing the same deals as you.
However at the very least you should learn from them. If you don’t know them, try to introduce yourself. Be brave. Learn what makes them tick and what their challenges are.
At times I have collaborated with my competitors. For example a couple of years ago I worked with one competitor to help clean up the industry of mercenary contractors that were bringing our industry down.
In the future you might seek to acquire these competitor or visa versa. So it helps to know them beforehand!
Keep an open mind and you may find more benefits of collaboration than competing!
As a sales leader within your startup you should take responsibility for the failures and share the credit for your wins.
Why?
When you are not successful, you, as a startup founder are best placed to make corrective changes.
You should have the best understanding of your startup. Employees are not as well positioned to know what changes need to occur.
Even if the person hired has failed, you should also take responsibility as you hired them, and/or neglected to train them properly.
In management 101, you should always assume that most employee problems are a result of the environment they work under. Take responsibility for when things don’t go to plan.
On the flip side giving credit to all involved when you achieve a win is a unifying activity. I once worked for a CEO founder who tried to claim credit for the sales he had helped me with. This was a poor move for him and his company.
Be the better man or woman!
About 10 years ago I was working for a US-owned company that was seeking to expand the number of customers for its niche logistics software product.
Typical with complex enterprise products, the sales cycle was slow..
About 5 months into the assignment, my sales manager became agitated, because his boss (and probably a few others) were keen to see what progress the global sales team was making. Sales had been slower than predicted.
You might find yourself in a similar situation with your investors.
I responded by outlining my process for prospecting and building up opportunities. I also shared a copy of the hundreds of letters and phone calls I had been making.
Everything was there for them to see what I had been doing.
After reviewing my activities and opportunities, my manager was satisfied that I was on the right track.
In summary:
Remember that the right activities lead to sales. It’s as simple as cause and effect!
Everyone has a weakness or two.
This may sound ironic to some who know me, but on occasions I struggle with self confidence!
We can all turn weaknesses into strengths.
Many people who use artificial means to mask their insecurities, such as anger which is really just fear underneath.
This is what I do to boost my confidence:
If you find confidence or similar issues to be a challenge, be like Bob the Builder and fix It!
On several occasions I made the error of stopping the communication with a prospect that seemed to have no hope of being my customer.
The reality is that all organisations are in a state of constant flux.
Find a way to ‘touch base’ with these organisations at least once a quarter. It could be as simple as a 5min phone call or a coffee catch-up.
By doing this you are not only getting good information, but you are building up relationships that can be relied on in the future.
For example one contact that I had a good relationship with changed jobs. Although he could not purchase from me in the first organisation, the second organisation was much easier!
Time marches on.
Opportunities will change.
Make time your ally.
When it comes to Sales and Marketing tools, Grady Booch’s quote: “A Fool with a Tool is still a Fool” says it all.
For many years, I have experienced the famous SAAS CRM products with no or minimal customisation. Or worse still, I had to use the (configured) CRM of the parent company that I worked for - which had completely different sales processes.
No matter how smart your sales and marketing tools are, they are just tools.
All vendors will sell the dream of an easy implementation. Do not fall for it!
“You must not be a passenger in the sales process.”
Before you spend your company’s hard earned money , first work out what your business process is. Get in a consultant to map out your sales process, and then go shopping for the tool that best suits your requirements.
I see this problem with startup founders all the time. They fall for the glitzy image of a great enterprise product.
Until you have 30+ active opportunities you should be able to manage everything on a spreadsheet. And if you use Google Sheets it should be 100% free.
Do not scale a generic sales process for your business. Make sure it works on a small scale before launching it.
Once you are confident you are going in the right direction, by all means use the tools to accelerate!
Good luck! 😀
I recently completed reading Richard Branson’s latest book, Finding my Virginity (2017).
I remember seeing Richard Branson at a small, temporary Sydney baggage terminal in 2000 when he launched Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia). He looked calm and exuded great confidence!
I was in my early 20’s and had a strong desire to introduce myself.
To my regret I backed down and continued on with my transit without speaking to him. Who was I to approach a billionaire?
This opportunity I suppose may have opened the door to a fantastic career with Virgin.
In reading Branson’s biography of that time, it’s clear his fledgling company Virgin Blue was under a lot of pressure. It’s future was not yet certain.
Three lessons I have taken from that time:
