{"id":7170,"date":"2014-05-25T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-25T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/?p=7170"},"modified":"2020-03-30T19:07:26","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T23:07:26","slug":"4-things-founders-know-startup-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/4-things-founders-know-startup-sales","title":{"rendered":"Four things founders should know about startup sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are so many facets of launching a business that need attention when launching a startup. As a result, sales is often seen as a final step \u2014 something that can be put on the backburner until everything else is sorted out.<\/p>\n

To simplify matters and make sales something that startup founders can appropriately tackle in tandem with their product efforts, we\u2019ve nailed down four things that every startup founder needs to know.<\/p>\n

Keep these \u201csales truths\u201d in mind when building out your sales process and hiring your first sales team, and sales won\u2019t seem so daunting after all. . .<\/p>\n

1. A sales process \u2014 any process \u2014 should be documented immediately.<\/h3>\n

Step one is to simply create a sales process that can be tracked. It might not be the right process, but you won\u2019t be able to figure that out until you nail it down and document the results.<\/p>\n

Once you start selling, you\u2019ll discover the holes and adapt accordingly.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, perfecting your product, discovering the market fit, and developing a replicable sales model should happen together as you constantly adjust each until a reliable combination of all three is established. Keeping the development of your sales process in line with the rest of your efforts will ensure the most efficient progress in perfecting the whole picture.<\/p>\n

Tracking this progress is pertinent and the earlier you start the better. So don\u2019t sweat over perfecting your process at first. Just get it down on paper. (And in your computer. Please don\u2019t actually use paper.)<\/p>\n

Check out\u00a0this article from Forbes<\/a>\u00a0on some of the best sales tracking tools to get you started.<\/p>\n

2. Sales involves both art and<\/em> science (but mostly science).<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a misconception that salespeople possess this innate charisma to charm, persuade, and close their deals through the black art of their words. Which is the excuse startup founders often give themselves when they decide that sales is just not their thing. To many, it\u2019s an artform that is simply out of reach.<\/p>\n

There\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0a hint of artististic flair in the way some people sell. But sales is also a process that can absolutely be learned. There are specific steps and systems that make sales 90% science, and with enough practice, anyone can nail it down and make up for the missing art of it by diligently mastering the rest.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the best way to master sales? Simply do it, again and again. And, back to number 1 \u2014 track it. You\u2019ll likely feel uncomfortable and fail at first, but did you really think that any of this \u201claunching my very own business\u201d thing was going to be easy?<\/p>\n

The more your do it, and the more data you collect to examine, the clearer the science of sales will become.<\/p>\n

3. What you think you want in a sales hire may not be what you actually need.<\/h3>\n

Many startup founders default to \u201cindustry people\u201d when making their first sales hires.<\/p>\n

One of toughest conversations we have with young companies is why people that work in their industry may not<\/em> be the right fit. (They can be, but this is not a given.) \u00a0Industry people have an understanding and a comfort with the space you\u2019re selling in. They also have some helpful connections within the field. Both of these things can get them off to a successful start, but neither are sustainable.<\/p>\n

The connections these people bring to the table are rarely as strong or as far-reaching as they\u2019ll lead you to believe, and they\u2019ll often lack the skills that are necessary to build fresh contacts for a company that no one has heard of.<\/p>\n

Picking the right people for your startup is huge.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0a study of 20,000 small business hires<\/a>\u00a0done by Leadership IQ, 46 percent of new hires fail within the first 18 months. That can mean the difference between success and failure to a small team that relies on every single person to keep the ball rolling.<\/p>\n

To avoid this pitfall, make sure your hires have a sales process to pair with their connections. \u00a0If they can only talk about their contacts without also explaining a process for how they get these deals done, then they\u2019re not the right person for a startup, because their method can\u2019t be replicated.<\/p>\n

Tom Hopkins of Entrepreneur.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0recommends paying attention to who sells effectively to\u00a0you<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u201cStart paying attention to the good salespeople you encounter when you\u2019re the consumer. What is it they\u2019re doing that makes you feel good about working with them?\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Sales is about education, not brute force.<\/h3>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just show them the product and they will lose their mind.\u201d If only it were that easy.<\/p>\n

Our goal as salespeople is to level set expectation with clients, show them that we understand their world, and then discuss how we can help with these challenges. If you don\u2019t lay this groundwork first, then your process will stall before you\u2019ve finished your pitch.<\/p>\n

Your salespeople need market information and competitive information in order to be successful in today\u2019s sales environment.<\/p>\n

The job of a sales professional has changed and is evolving more year over year. \u00a0The Challenger Sale is a great read that I recommend to all of my companies because it is the first book to match an education and \u201cchallenger\u201d based approach with data to support that this actually works. \u00a0Remember to listen, educate, and look for mutual alignment, BEFORE presenting your bells and whistles.<\/p>\n

When sales is kept at the forefront of startups\u2019 efforts, it ensures that a sales process can grow alongside the business. Keeping these sales points in mind throughout the early stages is the first step in ramping a startup that sells \u2014 \u00a0and keeps selling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are so many facets of launching a business that need attention when launching a startup. As a result, sales is often seen as a final step \u2014 something that can be put on the backburner until everything else is sorted out. To simplify matters and make sales something that startup founders can appropriately tackle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1160,"featured_media":7264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFour things founders should know about startup sales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are so many facets of launching a business that need attention when launching a startup. 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