Selling For Startups — Intro

Startups are fun. kinda. Most people involved in one would tell you it’s quite the ride. I dare say that nothing confirms this more than going through the gauntlet of selling for a startup.

Another way to put it is: It’s f*****g tough.

This is part 1 of a series of X parts (to be determined), the goal is to help with strategies and tactics those involved in selling a product that isn’t fully baked yet but have super duper high quotas and a fancy car they want to buy. Because you know, you’re a sales person and you want that fancy car, right? I know I do, although I’m still driving a Prius, go figure.

Topics that will be discussed:

Prospecting — or the art of avoiding cold calling

Qualifying — a.k.a.: you’re probably not the right fit mr. customer. maybe, not sure, but let’s figure it out together.

Pitching — Building slides that matter, and how to do a full demo with only 1 working feature.

Proposing — whatever you’re thinking in terms of price, bid higher. waaaayyyyy higher.

Negotiating- use those creative muscles, come one, SQUAT, PUSH, PULL!!!!

Channel sales — finding the right partners. Which simply means, those that are looking to make money as well. not just adding a logo on a powerpoint slide called “ecosystem”.

Management — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. I’ll also add my own personal favourite: The Crazy. I have a feeling I’ll be getting quite a few phone calls after this one.

I think with this you should have something to work with and grind your way towards a successful venture.

Before we start, a bit of background on me: I’ve been in sales now for about 15 years. First selling BlackBerry devices over the phone (yes it’s been that long), then moving on to handling medium & large size accounts for a few large telcos in Canada. I did pre-sales technical support, channel management, chasing partnerships in South America, blablablablabla.

Nothing has been as tough as selling for a tech startup. nothing. You have to sell a product that isn’t nowhere near what you say it is, to potential customers who have no clue who you are and why they should trust you. All of this in the context of them already spending tons of their $$ to your competitors, some ginormous companies worth 17 000 gazillion dollars on the stock market.

But here you are, selling that smoke screen. The thing is, you’re not lying, the product will at some point do what you say it does and it will kick major ass, you’re just forecasting that the client will sign when that differentiating feature will be released. So it should all be fine.

Selling for Startups. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Hope you enjoy the content.