Which Sales Approach is Right for Your Startup?
Matt Lopez
Every startup needs a sales strategy, but not every startup needs the same approach.
Now obviously, your product or service will vary the type of messaging you’ll need, but your startup’s unique situation will also play a factor in determining what type of sales approach will work best.
We’ve recently been sharing a variety of strategies that we’ve helped different startups implement, through a series of guest posts on WeWork Magazine. These case studies showcase the range of states a startup might be in when sales help is imperative, as well as the variety of directions a replicable sales strategy can take you.
Let’s take a look at the key points of each post. We bet you can see your own startup in one of these scenarios — and the promising possibilities of a what a formal sales approach can do for you…
(Click the headings to read the complete case studies on WeWork Magazine.)
Pre-Launch Sales Prep
Shareholder App had located a unique niche — providing shareholders with regular updates on the public companies they care about, through a branded interface and powerful notification capabilities. The value proposition was clear, but they needed the perfect messaging to present it with.
The implementation of three systems — Zoho CRM, Toutapp, and Rapportive — and training in the integration of each into a replicable sales process, allowed them to develop a process that could be tracked and analyzed upon launch.
Once these programs were set-up, we trained founders Chris and Alex in cold calling tactics and sales meetings.
“Previously we would try to contact a potential client 2 or 3 times before conceding that they did not want to speak to us,” Chris recalls.
“Skaled showed us the real benefit in persistence – the science behind selling shows a real spike in success once you start hitting seven or eight points of contact.”
Shareholder App developed a cadence of email and phone call based touch points that increased their overall success and put them in a position to launch with the confidence of a reliable sales process at their fingertips. ‘
Founders selling to first sales hire
The founders of Take the Interview had a lot on their plate and sales was taking up a huge portion of that platter. They were doing a great job with sales — considering the workload they were squeezing it into — but their position as founders resulted in a common glitch in their pitch that many founders face.
They were too focused on the product and not enough on the problems it solved.
Skaled helped Take the Interview to craft a sales pitch that put the consumer first, and identified a problem in the world that Take the Interview’s service could solve. Once a prospect understood the problem they were facing, the product was then introduced as an obvious solution, allowing for a less pitchy and more consistently successful sell.
Free product to freemium model
Speek (Acquired by Goto) had a solid base of people using their product, but these people were not paying to use the service.
When they decided to transition to a paid model, the team suddenly had two sales paths to navigate — cold outreach with new clients, and upgrading existing users to a subscription option.
What they really needed at this point, was testing on lead generation. We provided Speek with an outsourced sales representative to generate leads and test the value proposition used in cold outreach. This process revealed that chasing new markets wasn’t worth their time.
Skaled discovered that a free trial of the upgraded subscription model was the best way to funnel free customers into the paid service.
Dedicated free users already loved the product. Giving them a taste of the upgraded capabilities made the transition an obvious one.
Speek recently raised $5.1 million and will use the money to add additional features, such as upgraded security controls, collaboration capabilities, and integration with Salesforce and other enterprise products.
If your startup relates to one of these three phases, we might be able to help you too. Check out Startup Sales School for information on our upcoming sales training program. We’re holding an information session at our WeWork office in downtown Manhattan this Friday. We’d love to see you there!