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Startup Selling: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci

Over the past twenty years, I’ve led three Silicon Valley startups to their first customers and revenue, and sold everything from financial data, enterprise software, and vaporware to cabinet doors, amusement park daily programs, and “would you like fries with that…?” My customers have included the largest financial institutions in the world, top US Universities, cabinet door makers and people that eat at Applebees and go to amusement parks... I’ve learned a lot, and made a few, ahem, well… a lot, of mistakes. Here in The Sales Podcast with Scott Sambucci, I share the lessons learned from my past two decades of selling. In each episode, I discuss a specific topic in selling and sales strategy like how to find new prospective customers, how to manage leads, how to run an effective sales meeting, uncovering customer needs, and developing pricing strategies. Episodes are a mix of guest interviews, observations from the field, and sales techniques that I’m using every single day. And people that care about such things, I’ve written two books, been a TEDx Speaker, been featured on CNBC, The Financial Times and NPR. Oh… I’m also a husband, a dad, and a three-time Ironman triathlete. Build your sales process so that you can have the company you imagine. The Sales Podcast with Scott Sambucci will help you get there.
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Startup Selling: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci
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Now displaying: June, 2018
Why Some Entrepreneurs Fail And Others Don't - The Daily Dose #10 0
Jun 28, 2018

Topic: Why Some Entrepreneurs Fail And Others Don't

In this episode we talk about why some entrepreneurs fail and others don't.

If you're liking this edition of the Startup Selling Podcast, please leave us a 5-star review and recommend our show to a friend (or 10 :-).

Episode 42: The Selling Process vs The Buying Process in the Enterprise Sale: An Interview with PatientPing’s Head of Growth, Brian Manning 0
Jun 26, 2018

Today’s guest is Brian “I Help Startups Grow” Manning, he’s the Head of Growth at PatientPing which is a company in the HealthTech sector that connects health care providers and allows them to share information, coordinate care, and work together to get patients healthier faster.

Brian was also the CoFounder of Zocdoc's Enterprise Team and has been doing enterprise sales for 18+ years.

In this episode, we really focused on two main themes: Enterprise Sales and Sales Team Management. Just a few of the topics we covered include:

  • The biggest mistake entrepreneurs make when selling to big companies - The Sales Process vs. The Buy Process.
  • Helping your buyers through their own "Buying Process"
  • How enterprise sales is a lot like project management
  • Being empathetic in your sales process.
  • How to sell innovation.
  • The Access Audit.
  • Known Said/ Known Unsaid/ Unknown Problems.
  • How to use scarcity to move the sale forward -- Creating FOMO.
  • Sales management - From individual contributor to manager.
  • How to build effective, and real, relationships with your team - 1:1s, weekly, monthly and quarterly strategies.
  • Sharing failures to create confidence with the team.

Some of the books and resources that were mentioned by Brian:

Where to find Brian on the Interwebs:

Personal Motivation - The Daily Dose #9 0
Jun 22, 2018

Hey Everyone - 

Welcome to another episode of the Daily Dose. In this episode we talk about: 

  • Personal Motivation.
  • Just Start.
  • Learn how to motivate yourself!
  • Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode. 

Enjoy!

Episode 41: Pricing Strategies for Startups, The Flip-Flop Test & Selling Reasonable: An Interview with Enterprise Sales Veteran Kris Duggan 0
Jun 19, 2018

Today we have Kris “Speedhunter” Duggan on the Startup Selling Podcast.

“If you’re not a sales-oriented founder, sales is a critical part of your business success and you can’t outsource it. You should put as much effort on sales as you put into product.” — Kris Duggan

Kris is an expert when it comes to startup sales, especially enterprise software. Kris’s experience and accolades include:

  • Advising Palantir, RelateIQ (acquired by Salesforce), Addepar and Blend (and other…) on their go-to-market strategies;
  • Starting two venture-backed companies that have raised $100M in combined capital.
  • Interviewing over 1000 salespeople, and hiring 15 senior executives in the last 10 years.
  • Personally meeting with 50% of the Fortune 1000 companies. 
  • Carrying a $25M sales quota.

His 2018 goal is to help 100 startups, if you’re interested in getting help from Kris, you can just go to his blog at https://krisduggan.com/ and contact him through there. Look for the blog post titled – “ Live, Personalized Advice for 100 Entrepreneurs – How can I help?”

In this episode, Kris and I cover:

  • Top pitfalls startups make – doing work for free, overcomplicating the price sheet, giving multiple price options, not staying engaged with executives.
  • The fallacy of free trials.
  • Negotiation – Getting people to tell you what you need to do to get the deal done.
  • How to design your pricing so that no customers churn.
  • The pilot program fallacy and what to do instead.
  • What to do when you get asked for proposals.
  • When should startups hire their first sales person, and how much the CEO has to sell BEFORE hiring sales teams.

Some of the books and resources that were mentioned by Kris:

  • Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Markets by Michael Bosworth
  • Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
  • The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matt Dixon and Brent Adamson.
  • The Challenger Customer: Selling to the Hidden Influencer Who Can Multiply Your Results by Brent Adamson and Matt Dixon

Where to find Kris on the Interwebs:

How to become better at conversations - The Daily Dose #8 0
Jun 18, 2018

Welcome to another episode of the Daily Dose —

In this episode we talk about a bunch of tips on how to become a better conversationalist, some of the topics that we covered:

1- Five bricks a day.

2- Improve your conversation by improving your questions.

3- Have a set of go-to questions in case your conversation stalls.

Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode. 

 

Episode 40: Financial Literacy for Startup CEOs: Buy-Sell Agreements, Key-Man Insurance, IULs & More: An Interview with Tim Phebus from WealthWave 0
Jun 11, 2018
Long-time listeners to the show know that we normally talk sales and growth and strategy. But today, we’re taking a step off the main track with this episode to talk about “Financial Literacy.”
 
Snooze, right? 
 
Yep, we’re not talking about growth and investing and all of the fun stuff that goes along with startup life. Instead, I’m making it my job to make sure you know a key fundamental to running your business and your life – Financial Literacy. 
 
And it turns out this can directly affect sales and growth – What kind of candidates are you trying to target? Gen Y vs More experienced? What kinds of benefits should you offer, or need to offer to attract the right candidates?
 
As you sell to larger enterprises, their procurement departments will ask you about your insurance programs with your startup.
 
What about business insurance – is your company covered?  And how about yourself and your family – are THEY covered if something happens to you or your business… Every seven years, something drastically will change in your life. Are you ready for it?
 
Enter our guest… Tim Phebus, a Financial Services Entrepreneur and Marketing Director at WealthWave. Even better, Tim is a a life-long personal friend and a person I trust with my own personal insurance and family protection.
 
Here are some of the key highlights from our conversation….
 
  1. Go see someone that specializes in Financial services.
  2. Write down your goals - what’s most important to you and the company
  3. Call an advisor to get multiple consultations
 
Insurance:
  • Business Owner Policy 
  • Business Insurance
  • General / Liability Insurance
  • Commercial Insurance
 
Business Insurance:
  • Key Man Insurance - Policy on one of my key employees
  • Buy-Sell Agreement Insurance - Co-owner dies, forced to leave the business, or chooses to leave the business
  • Split-Dollar Agreement - The employer will pay for a life insurance that accrues cash value.
 
Family Coverage:
  • Emergency Fund: Liquid Cash of 3-6 months
  • College Planning: 529 Plan, state-by-state prepaid tuition, Indexed Universal Life (IULs)
  • Long Term Care plan
  • Living Wills & Trusts
 
Life Insurance:
  • 8 types of life insurance
  • Term life insurance – allot specific coverage amount for a set period of time.
  • Whole life policy – outdated
  • Return of Premium – 
  • Index Universal Life – Life insurance with death benefit, builds cash value – becomes as investment
 
Here’s Tim’s Contact Information:
 
(702) 326-1553
What to do with stalled deals - The Daily Dose #7 0
Jun 7, 2018

Welcome to another episode of the Daily Dose —

In this episode, we talk about a couple of the reasons why you're deals are being stalled.

1- Procurement.

2- Not talking directly to the Decision Maker. 

If you're enjoying our content, share it with a friend, or 10 :-).

Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode. 

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