Article
What Founders Should Know about the Sales Process
founders-journey.org
Quoted on this wiki
Every place a page here uses this source, in the order the words come in it.
Founders Should Sell Their Product or Service before Hiring a Salesperson “you’ll learn how long the process takes, what the justification needs to be, how it deploys, and how it grows.” Understand Your Buyer's Journey—Learn Your Customers' Pain Points and How Your Solution Can Help Them
“But, often, founder-CEOs lack fundamental knowledge about the sales process that underlies selling products.” 3 Things Every Founder Should Know about the Sales Process
Drawing on three decades of experience, Shipley notes a fundamental difference in the mindsets of sales-oriented people and most founders—and staff in other functions. Focused on solving the problem, most technical founders “don’t think there could be a brain type out there that is simply motivated by just monetary reward.” But Shipley underscores, trying to understand how a salesperson thinks and “what would motivate them is important.” “Often a founder will bring in a salesperson with a great track record from a more established company with a predictable product.” For a founder, trying to understand how that salesperson thinks and what would motivate them is important.
Drawing on three decades of experience, Shipley notes a fundamental difference in the mindsets of sales-oriented people and most founders—and staff in other functions. Focused on solving the problem, most technical founders “don’t think there could be a brain type out there that is simply motivated by just monetary reward.” But Shipley underscores, trying to understand how a salesperson thinks and “what would motivate them is important.” ““not be able to deal with the fact that the product is really not ready for prime time or there’s no repeatability to the process.”” For a founder, trying to understand how that salesperson thinks and what would motivate them is important.
“There’s a different sort of a mindset” he notes. One of the most common mistakes he’s witnessed has to do with timing and expectations. Often a founder will bring in a salesperson with a great track record from a more established company with a predictable product. At a startup, however, an experienced salesperson often will “not be able to deal with the fact that the product is really not ready for prime time or there’s no repeatability to the process.” “For a founder, trying to understand how that salesperson thinks and what would motivate them is important.” Lou Shipley
Founders Should Sell Their Product or Service before Hiring a Salesperson “It makes you more effective at hiring the right salesperson or someone you can delegate sales to later.” Understand Your Buyer's Journey—Learn Your Customers' Pain Points and How Your Solution Can Help Them
Understand and Anticipate the Sales Learning Curve “They hire a sales team prematurely, ahead of the real demand.” Made popular in 2006 by Mark Leslie and Charles A. Holloway, the sales learning curve identifies three primary times during which a learning process must occur before you can accurately forecast sales for your product. These three primary times are: when a startup1) introduces a new product, 2) changes route to market—from direct to indirect or indirect or direct or 3) launches into new territory.
Quotes are verbatim and belong to their publishers. Where a quote has been translated, the original wording is kept below it.