Sales are not only crucial to keeping your business afloat, it can also make or break its fate when an investor is evaluating your startup's potential.
Low sales figures could alienate potential investors and, with your competitors poised to capitalize, you could be leaving millions of dollars on the table.
That's where a startup sales strategy can make a difference. A concrete and well-defined sales strategy gives your team a clear focus and allows you to sell successfully over and over again.
Do you want to excite investors and inject additional funds to fuel your growth? A sales strategy develops the path, creates the vision, and provides the data and numbers to ensure that funding goals and criteria are met.
Don't have a startup sales strategy yet? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Follow the four steps below to build an effective sales strategy for your startup from scratch.
- Identify your target market.
Determining your target market is one of the most important responsibilities for an entrepreneur. It is the foundation of all the elements that are part of your startup sales talent strategy, from how you develop and present your offers to the tools you use to promote them.
Unfortunately, most aspiring founders are completely wrong in their target markets.
A seemingly great campaign pops into their minds, and that's where they start. The result is that most startups end up promoting in markets where there are no customers.
Taking the time and resources to identify your target market can help you increase sales revenue. With a target market, it's easier to figure out the pain point you need to address, the solution you'll provide, and how much profit you can potentially make.
Look at the competition.
Take a look at who your competitors are targeting: Are they after the same consumer groups as you? Are they targeting segments that you hadn't thought to include? How are they positioning their product or service?
It will be easier for you to give the answers once you analyze the competition. Look at their social media pages, visit their websites, and subscribe to their email lists to get a feel for the market they are trying to capture.
You may consider selling to the same target market or focusing on a segment that your competitors may be overlooking; Based on your brand, offering, and resources, you should choose your target market accordingly.
Research industry reports.
Industry reports can provide clues to the type of consumers you should be targeting, and sometimes how an industry is shaping up. These reports can cover typical customer age, brand preferences, and other useful information.
- Create an ideal customer profile.
This is where you start your market research and your observations. Identifying your target market is a necessary first step, but the most successful startups have a much deeper understanding of the people who buy from your company.
An ideal customer profile takes your data to a granular level, closing the gaps and taking the guesswork out of your efforts.
It gives you click here to find out more a more specific view of who your ideal customer is, including (but not limited to):
- Demographics: location, gender, age, marital status, education, job title, income
- Psychographic data: values, beliefs, fears, frustrations, experience, personality
- Behavioral data: buying habits, brand loyalty, lifestyle
- Ideally, you can put all of this data together to create a "story" about a fictional person that fits perfectly.
- Incorporate sales enablement into your startup sales strategy.
There's nothing worse than a sales call where your sales rep doesn't have access to the information they need to answer the customer's question. Or a sloppy internal system where cables fall through cracks.
This is often a critical oversight in startup sales strategies - silos of information that prevent the sales team from having all the knowledge they need to deliver a robust customer experience.
Indicate the sales enablement.
A SiriusDecisions study found that, among companies reporting $ 750 million or more in annual revenue, 83% have implemented or plan to implement an enablement strategy.
In addition to having stellar sales recruiter skills, your reps must also be well trained on the inner workings of the business and the products and services they sell. And they also need to have the systems and support necessary to make those monthly sales goals a reality.
- Set quotas and offer incentives to achieve them.
Sales will not escalate by themselves! You will need to set goals and objectives to keep your reps motivated and on track in each phase of your sales strategy.
Startups may have quotas for the number of emails they send, the meetings they hold, or the deals they finalize. Or you can use a more delegated approach and set goals for the value of the business they generate.
Setting sales goals will vary from startup to startup, but this means they will also be more realistic and achievable for reps. If you have a luxury product with a low high-value sales count, your goals may be lower than a startup with a wide range of inexpensive products that are sold in volumes. You will need to keep this in mind when creating realistic and motivating sales goals and objectives.
You will also need to come up with ways to motivate your sales coach team to achieve these goals. Monetary advantages are a great starting point, but there are other ways to reward high-performing salespeople. Xactly, a leading provider of incentive compensation programs, recommends subscription boxes, free parking, gift cards, and many other types of creative sales incentives.
Documentation is key to making your strategy work.
Building and launching a startup is an exciting and incredible endeavor. While it may seem like the best idea is to dive right into sales, it's far better if you take the time to research and design your ideal goals and processes, and be sure to document every step of the way.
By creating tangible documentation, you will also be able to keep all relevant members of your organization in tune with the strategy, creating a seamless and streamlined experience for all. Plus, you'll be able to better track what works and what doesn't, so you can iterate and improve your strategy with each passing day.