Sales Best Practices vs. Intuition in Startups

When considering “unconventional sales tactics” and doing so with a particular focus on startups, the entire issue can be summed up in a simple rule: startups need to use sales best practices as opposed to intuition, demonstrations and ego. Given that this rule by itself is of no help to anyone, let’s break it down to understand how sales best practices can be adapted to the unique situations that startups find themselves in.

Repeated Mistakes and Market Penetration Potential

Having trained and consulted with a wide range of startups over several decades and having researched how hundreds of startups have approached their market, it is confounding to see how often the same mistakes are repeated time and time again. It is equally remarkable to see how successful startups can be if they embrace how best to penetrate their market with speed to generate profitable results. Perhaps the best place to start is to describe what “conventional sales tactics” look like for most startups.

In most cases, startups are founded by the creators of products/services and not by sellers trained in sales best practices. It is not surprising, therefore, that when founders go to sell their wares, they rely heavily on description and demonstration. It is almost as though they are unconsciously exercising the “better mousetrap” philosophy. This tendency is exaggerated when the new offering is disruptive or innovative. Using product or service descriptions with the expectation that a “demo” is going to generate sales is a fool’s errand. During our research, we identified more than 50 companies where the founders proudly declared they have done “more than one hundred demos.” In each case, the answer to the question, “how many did you close?” the answer became all too predictable: zero. While many established companies still train sellers to rush potential customers into a demo, with the belief that “the demo sells the deal,” this myth is particularly fatal to a startup. Every single company that rushed to demo eventually closed the business. A startup without customers is either an expensive hobby or a complete waste of energy, time and often a good product/service.

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Embracing the Road Less Taken: Unconventional Sales Tactics

While a thorough discussion of the failures “conventional sales tactics” create for startups is beyond the scope of this blog, suffice to say it is the “unconventional sales tactics” that constitute the road too seldom taken yet the approach that is usually the most important factor in the race to succeed. Consider the following five tactics that underpin successful unconventional sales tactics startups should adopt.

Understand What Makes the Offering Truly Different

What is different about the product/service the startup is offering? Are you entering a mature market where your offering is better, cheaper, faster or some other factor that your potential customers will define as desirable? Forget how proud the founders feel about their new offering. Does it align with what the potential market will recognize as addressing something they want to fix, accomplish or avoid? If so, it is vital to derive how a customer will be better off using this new offering. Will it reduce expenses, improve margins, grow revenue, reduce headcount, better establish the customer’s brand promise, etc.? Don’t answer that question with assumption and starry-eyed expectation. Be rigorous and collect data that support any of your assumptions.

If the offering is truly innovative and/or disruptive, this first step is even more vital. Here, market penetration will depend heavily on helping prospects see a vision of a future/outcome that they did not know was possible. Sellers will need to hone their ability to help prospects create a vision of how the innovative/disruptive offering will create benefits that were heretofore unavailable. It is essential to avoid depending on demonstrations to make this happen.

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Make the First Meeting a Conversation, Not a Pitch

The first meeting with a prospect (and often several subsequent meetings) should be conversations, not presentations or demonstrations. The focus of this/these conversations is to understand the prospect’s view of their “need to change.” Specifically, is there something about their current solution they articulate as falling short of optimal? To get this information, the seller needs to understand the tactical difference between conversational inquiry and self-serving interrogation. Planning what to ask, who to ask and knowing how to create value for the prospect during the sales call (as opposed to being a great talking brochure) is the key to moving the opportunity forward.

This too is a bit more difficult if the offering is viewed by the prospect as innovative and/or disruptive. The problem arises from the market’s lack of familiarity. Those selling into a mature market with a differentiated offering approach a market where the prospects are familiar with what they want to fix, accomplish or avoid and the options for doing so. Therefore, the challenge for the seller in this case is to show how the seller’s alternative provides a clearer path to a better result. Those selling innovation face the challenge that prospects are unfamiliar with why the innovation will produce an outcome they have always assumed to be impossible. This means that the initial discussions need to revolve around getting the prospect to articulate a vision of how the innovation will create benefits that heretofore have been unachievable.

In either case, relying on demonstrations to provide the starting point for considering the startup’s solution is severely limiting in terms of achieving a successful sale.

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Identify Voters vs. Voices

The third tactic that sellers introducing a startup’s solution need to master is the ability to recognize what we distinguish as voters vs voices. Specifically, the ability to determine who would be contributing a vote on the buying decision vs those with a strong interest in the purchase being made. Too often, startup sellers are overly enthralled by people who appear to be advocates and make the natural but often incorrect conclusion that these strong voices have a vote. Strong vocal advocates can be very helpful. But getting to those with the power to purchase is essential.

Validate the Opportunity

The fourth and equally valuable tactic is to focus on uncovering, validating and sometimes influencing the evidence that an opportunity exists. Assumptions and good feelings are fine as a starting point, but only two verified pieces of information validate that an opportunity exists:

(a) there is more than one potential voter who articulates something they want to fix, accomplish or avoid

(b) they are willing to take a buying journey right now.

Potential buyers who express interest or even enthusiasm but are not able to take such a journey currently, qualify as candidates for Marketing to nurture. In such cases, these should not be entered into the sales funnel as viable opportunities. They may become a viable opportunity in the future, but they are not appropriate entries into the funnel at this time.

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Gauge Continued Engagement

Do the potential decision makers demonstrate a willingness to continue to engage? In other words, does each meeting end with their committing to another action. Responses such as, “that is very interesting, let us think about it and we’ll get back to you” is not demonstrating a willingness to continue to engage. The more discipline a startup seller can apply to this important issue the greater will be their ultimate success.

Mastering Skills Through Training

The key here is for sellers in a startup to get training on how to master these skills. Be certain that whatever company you turn to for help has experience with training startups. Dig past their reassurances. Ask for references, dive into what they can tell you about how selling for a startup is different and be sure they have adequate resources to help you practice and master the necessary skills. Developing a skill is very different from merely gaining an understanding of best practice. A training event will never do the job.

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