Sampling of the topics covered as part of the one day intensive Coffee is for Closers sales seminar for entrepreneurs. See www.coffeeclosers.wordpress.com for more information

1. Sales Strategies for Ambitious Entrepreneurs
Graham McFarland
Abbreviated Presentation
Tech Ranch - Austin TX
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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
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4. “If people only knew how hard I
work to gain my mastery, it wouldn’t
seem so wonderful at all.”
– Michelangelo
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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
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6. Relationships Matter
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7. Relationships Matter
“Life is relationships; the rest is
just details.”
– Gary Smalley, author
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8. Customer
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9. Customer
• Consumer
Who gets the most • SMB
value from the • Enterprise
product • Not for Profits
• Governments
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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
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11. By the Numbers
• Enterprise
• $453B to $4.8B in revenue
• Down to $1.7B in revenue
• Down to $2M in revenue
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12. By the Numbers
• Not for Profits
• 1M with $25K+ in fundraising
• Government
• City – 30K
• County – 3.1K
• State – 50
• Federal – 1
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13. Product
• Widgets
An item that satisfies • Subscriptions
what a customer • Licenses
needs or wants • Apps
• Services
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14. All Products Have Lifecycles
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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?
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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
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17. Making Money on Apps
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18. Making Money on Apps
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19. The Value Proposition
1. Make More Money
2. Save Money
Cheaper or Saves Time
3. Get Smarter
Better data or intelligence
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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
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21. Place
• Retail
Providing the product • Web
at a place which is • Distribution
convenient for • Referral Programs
customers to access • Strategic
Partnerships
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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?
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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27. How to Get Leads
One to Many
• Email Campaigns
• Guerilla Blogging
• Speaking Opportunities
• Search Advertising
• Tradeshows-Exhibitor
• Social Media
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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
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29. Search Advertising
• Google
• Bing
• Yahoo!
Start small, no magic bullet
Test, retest and test again!
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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
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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
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32. How to Get Leads
One to One
• Business Development
• “Useful” Networking Events
• Tradeshow-Attendee
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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
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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
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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
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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
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37. Sales Process
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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43. Repeat Business
Build a long-term, profitable relationship
Goal: follow-on sales, referrals and testimonials
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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
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45. Types of Salespeople
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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)
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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
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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
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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!
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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
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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
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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
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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
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