Coffee is for Closers - Abbreviated
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The document outlines effective sales strategies for entrepreneurs, emphasizing the importance of passion, relationships, and understanding the customer base. It discusses various sales techniques, from prospecting and qualifying leads to closing deals, and highlights the roles of different types of salespeople. Additionally, it covers methods for generating leads via digital platforms, networking, and the dynamics of hiring and compensating sales teams.
Coffee is for Closers - Abbreviated
- 1. Sales Strategies for Ambitious Entrepreneurs Graham McFarland Abbreviated Presentation Tech Ranch - Austin TX 1
- 2. 2
- 3. Passion I can judge passion in the first :10 • Passion is contagious • Wear it on your sleeve • Never takes a day off 3
- 4. “If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo 4
- 5. Meet Your First VP of Sales You • selling the vision • building a team • establishing the unique selling/value proposition for the customer You can’t teach it to others unless you do it yourself 5
- 6. Relationships Matter 6
- 7. Relationships Matter “Life is relationships; the rest is just details.” – Gary Smalley, author 7
- 8. Customer 8
- 9. Customer • Consumer Who gets the most • SMB value from the • Enterprise product • Not for Profits • Governments 9
- 10. By the Numbers • Consumers • 238M over 18 • 50.8% Female • 16.7% Hispanic or Latino • 120M Households • SMB • 10M small and medium size businesses 10
- 11. By the Numbers • Enterprise • $453B to $4.8B in revenue • Down to $1.7B in revenue • Down to $2M in revenue 11
- 12. By the Numbers • Not for Profits • 1M with $25K+ in fundraising • Government • City – 30K • County – 3.1K • State – 50 • Federal – 1 12
- 13. Product • Widgets An item that satisfies • Subscriptions what a customer • Licenses needs or wants • Apps • Services 13
- 14. All Products Have Lifecycles 14
- 15. Price • Neutral The amount a • Penetration customer pays for the • Forward product • Skimming • Cost Plus • Value Based What is the Total Cost of Ownership? 15
- 16. Making Money on Apps • Paid • Free • Freemium • Advertising • In App Purchases Premium pricing only works for established premium brands Going from paid to free will result in a huge bump China is not a market that likes to pay for apps 16
- 17. Making Money on Apps 17
- 18. Making Money on Apps 18
- 19. The Value Proposition 1. Make More Money 2. Save Money Cheaper or Saves Time 3. Get Smarter Better data or intelligence 19
- 20. Promotion All of the methods of • PR communication that • Advertising the marketer may use • Trade Shows to provide info to • SEO different parties • Personal Selling about the product • Word of Mouth 20
- 21. Place • Retail Providing the product • Web at a place which is • Distribution convenient for • Referral Programs customers to access • Strategic Partnerships 21
- 22. Cold Calling Instead of contacting random people who will never buy your product, create and enact systems to uncover the people who want to buy your product When they are looking where do they go? 22
- 23. Here’s Where They Go • Search the Web = search advertising, landing pages, SEO • Trade Shows = exhibit, speak or sponsor • Meetups = attend, speak or sponsor • Referrals = join associations, volunteer • Inbound Calls / Emails = contact info clearly on web page 23
- 24. Cold Calling Cold calling destroys your status as an equal and makes you appear needy and desperate. You must present your self as an equal at the very minimum and preferably as a superior Edusales vs. Aggressive sales? A good salesperson never actually sells but just educates the customer to the point that they sell themselves 24
- 25. Cold Calling 70% of sales were made on the 1st appointment 23% of sales were made on the 2nd appointment 7% of sales were made on the 3rd and after But 50% of his time was spent chasing the 7% Don’t waste your time – move along! 25
- 26. Website & Email $100,000 revenue goal = 1,000 customers $100 avg. rev per customer 1,000 customers = 20,000 leads 5% conversion rate 20,000 leads = 800,000 website visitors 2.5% conversion rate 26
- 27. How to Get Leads One to Many • Email Campaigns • Guerilla Blogging • Speaking Opportunities • Search Advertising • Tradeshows-Exhibitor • Social Media 27
- 28. Guerrilla Blogging • Set up Google alerts – Competitors, industry keywords, product keywords, thought leaders – Read articles and find related posts – Post comments on blogs and articles cleverly mentioning your product, value proposition, website 28
- 29. Search Advertising • Google • Bing • Yahoo! Start small, no magic bullet Test, retest and test again! 29
- 30. Trade Shows - Exhibitor • Expensive! • Great way to get qualified leads • Great way to learn the industry and get connected • Good for personal introductions and building long-term relationships • Primarily for finding Whales and establishing credibility 30
- 31. Social Media 1.Blog 2. Facebook MUST HAVES on Day 1 3. Twitter 4. LinkedIn 5. Tumblr 6. Pinterest NICE TO HAVES save for later 7. Google+ SKIP IT 31
- 32. How to Get Leads One to One • Business Development • “Useful” Networking Events • Tradeshow-Attendee 32
- 33. “When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.” – -Abraham Lincoln 33
- 34. Business Development Make a Hit List • Strategic Partners • Large “Brand” Customers (Whales) Do the Research • Understand their business – do not assume anything • Identify decision makers 34
- 35. Business Development Don’t Act Desperate • Business by desperation is a losing game • Always come from a position of strength • Fast growing • Always busy • On the road Don’t Rabbit Hole 35
- 36. “Always look ahead and above yourself. Always try to improve on yourself. Always strive to elevate your craft. That's what he taught me.” – Yoshikazu Ono, son of Jiro Ono Jiro Dreams of Sushi 36
- 37. Sales Process 37
- 38. Sales Process A series of customer-focused steps that your sales team can use to: • Substantially build your customer base • Generate repeat business • Increase revenue Repeatable and Scalable Requires preparation, rehearsal and practice 38
- 39. Prospecting Generating qualified leads Goal: identify a qualified decision maker, or make an ally in the company who can help you reach the decision maker 39
- 40. Qualifying You and the customer are sizing each other up Goal: convince the decision maker to move ahead with an in-depth evaluation of your solution 40
- 41. Proposal Customer has narrowed down the competition Goal: demonstrate the value your business can provide the company through successful completion of the evaluation plan 41
- 42. Decision Negotiation is critical – don’t let it turn a good deal to a bad one Goal: facilitate deals that are beneficial to both your company and the customer 42
- 43. Repeat Business Build a long-term, profitable relationship Goal: follow-on sales, referrals and testimonials 43
- 44. Types of Salespeople • Transactional: those that simply wait for the transaction to make their sale AKA Order Takers quickly building rapport with the customer and often gets • Relational: sales because the buyer likes them enough that they become the deciding factor in the sales process AKA Schmoozers • Closers: those who are always trying to close the deal on a sale. AKA Closers genuinely thrive off of the problem-solving aspect • Consultants: of their job, listening to customer needs and helping them find a solution to their problem AKA Experts 44
- 45. Types of Salespeople 45
- 46. Key Sales Positions • Founders Must Sell! • VP of Sales ideal to work along with Founder (develop sales process) • Sales people (only when process is implemented) • Marketing manager (biz dev role) • Hunters (never good managers) • Farmers (like to cultivate) 46
- 47. When to Hire • As soon as you can afford to; and • as soon as you have something to sell A good salesperson will pay for themselves quickly – if they don’t either too early or wrong salesperson 47
- 48. Where to Find Them • Top Talent Knows Top Talent • Competitors • Companies You Admire • Social Media • LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook • Start-Up Focused Job Posting Sites • Startuphire.com • Hotstartupjobs.com 48
- 49. The Posting • Write a job description • Require up front: • Resume – background • Cover Letter – communication skills • Why they would like to work for a startup • Salary Requirements – don’t waste time • 3 References Trash any that are not complete! 49
- 50. 3X3 Interview GREAT sales people know how to turn an “interview” into a “discussion.” First: Let them sell you Second: Challenge them with a task Third: You sell them, close the deal 50
- 51. 3X3 Interview • Meet 3 different times in 3 different locations – Meet in office – Meet for coffee – Meet for a meal You see the potential sales person in 3 unique situations and you see how they respond not only to you but to others waiter, barista, colleague 51
- 52. Sales Compensation Base salary (security) Your top salesperson may be + Commission (reward) the highest paid in the company. Results = Reward + Benefits (gravy) + Stock options (fuzzy upside) = Total Compensation the whole package 52
- 53. Sales Hiring Red Flags • Salesperson who tries to negotiate their base salary • Salesperson who doesn’t try to negotiate their commission or bonus • Salesperson who doesn’t want the word “Sales” in their title • Salesperson who isn’t willing to include their personal cell phone number on their biz card 53