Start-up Sales Approach

Enable your sales team and managers to execute with precision – – effectively, efficiently & predictably

Causes of Start-up Sales Failure

#1 Entrepreneurs Lack Sales Experience in lead generation, appointment setting, buyer qualification and needs investigation, pricing, and asking for the sale

#2 Product or Service is not viewed as a “must-have” and/or does not meet buyer minimum viable expectations
#3 Sales Lead Is Distracted by building the product or services, meetings with investors, or other challenges
#4 Time Pressure to generate immediate revenue results to cover start-up costs distracts or scares off buyers
#5 Selling To The Future rather than selling buyers on what the product/service is today

We Use The Chief Sales Leader Framework™

To generate sales and lay the foundation for the three (3) strategic and twelve (12) operating sales processes that are required for a sales team to execute with precision – – effectively, efficiently, and predictably

Steps For Creating Your Start-up Sales Approach

Start-up Sales Approach

Step 1 – Understand The Buyer Decision Process

  1. What answers do buyers need in order to make a purchase?
  2. What questions do buyers not know to ask about your offering?
  3. What is the right sequence of questions and answers to engage?
  4. What are you asking them to start and stop doing?
  5. What are the ten reasons why they will so “no” to purchase?
Step 2 – Craft Value Prop & Sales Call Guide
  1. Open the sales conversation
  2. Investigate buyer needs and qualify them
  3. Demonstration your solution
  4. Present pricing options
  5. Negotiate and close the deal
  6. Handle objections at any point during the conversation
Step 3 – Schedule Sales Appointments
  1. Define target industries, companies and buy points
  2. Find contact information i.e. email and phone
  3. Craft message to get buyers to say “yes” to an appointment
  4. Request appointments via email and phone
  5. Deploy marketing automation to sustain contact
  6. Track appointment setting results i.e. email and phone
Step 4 – Conduct Sales Conversations With Buyers
  1. Inside sales call using online screen sharing
  2. Field sales calls
  3. Online chat sales call via your website
  4.  Joint sales call with channel partners
  5. Global or national account sales calls
Step 5 – Track Your Sales Pipeline & Opportunities
  1. Contact history notes
  2. Source – – where did you meet the contact?
  3. Milestone and status
  4. Sales opportunities and probability of closing the sale
Step 6 – Build-out Sales Process Infrastructure For Growth
Part 1 – Sales Strategy
  1. Sales forecasting for revenue, sales pipeline activities, sales productivity, staffing requirements and selling expenses
  2. Sales and market planning by industry, geography, buy-point, product, and service, buy point, etc.
  3. Sales organization design to get the right salespeople to the right place at the right time
  4. Sales culture to ensure that sales call execution is being reinforced
Part 2 – Sales Execution
  1. Sales procedures for lead generation, appointment setting, new customer acquisition, customer onboarding, customer service, account management renewals, cross-selling, and win-backs
  2. Sales technology including CRM, marketing automation, customer service, phone, auto-dialer, sales library, productivity, project management, territory mapping and routing, and human resources
  3. Sales content for awareness building, purchase evaluation, company information, product and service information, pricing and proposals, promotional materials, contacts and customer service help desk
  4. Sales people for hiring, onboarding, coaching, compensating, rewarding, evaluating, training, developing future sales leaders, and succession planning
Part 3 – Sales Evaluation
  1. Sales measurement for tracking sales activities, sales opportunities, and contact history
  2. Sales analysis for internal activities, results, and trends; as well as external events and trends
  3. Sales reporting for industries, buyer companies, sales activities, revenue, sales regions, and salespeople
  4. Sales process improvement for gap analysis, problem identification and prioritization, improvement planning, and improvement reporting