"I guess I'll follow up with them..."

If that's your action plan for a deal that's gone dark or a lead that won't reply, you're doing it all wrong.

The top 3 synonyms for "follow" are PURSUE, SEEK & CHASE.

Is that how you want to run your sales process? 

Change the mindset. 

Eliminate "follow up" from your vocabulary.

Get SPECIFIC. Be PRECISE.

Think in terms of VALUE, ACTION & EDUCATION.

Got an inbound that won't reply after the demo request? 

Add value instead of hammering away to get a call on the books.

Got a post-demo prospect that tells you – "Follow up in a couple of weeks..."?

Assert yourself with action.

Got a proposal that's gone dark? 

(Sending the proposal was your first mistake, but that's for another post...)

Create opportunities to share new information.

Sales requires you to lead your prospects. 

Stop the "follow up" and take action.

If you want to get more specific and more precise with your startup's sales process, DM me or comment👇 'ACTION' 👇 and let's have a quick chat to see if or how I can help.

Listen to the LinkedIn LIVE here:

https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6800822266474180608/

Listen & subscribe to The Startup Selling Show here:

BluBrry | Deezer | Amazon | Stitcher | Spotify | iTunes | Soundcloud | SalesQualia

Thanks so much for listening! Tell a friend or ten about The Startup Selling Show, and please leave a review wherever you’re listening to the show.

Hiring is a two-sided market – the hiring company and the candidates. 

After closing a Series A, a founder needs to get serious about building their sales team. That first sales team will either galvanize growth from "start up" to "scale up," or drag the company into startup purgatory.

Founders have to sell candidates on their company, market, and product. Any good salesperson will need relative assurance, that while they're taking a risk at a startup, the upside potential outweighs the career risk.

Here's a 5-factor rubric designed for BOTH founders and top talent to assess and validate a startup's readiness and attractiveness to hiring top sales talent. 

(Notice I said TOP sales talent...)

1/ People – A new hire isn't joining a company – they're joining a tribe.  Who's in the tribe now and how will the candidate fit?

2/ Problem – What's the mission and vision of the startup? Is the problem interesting? Will solving it make an impact?

3/ Product – Is the product sellable? What's the roadmap and what other options are available to the market?

4/ Process – Is there a sales process beyond founder magic?

5/ Professional Development – How can the candidate grow as the company grows?

Listen to the full podcast here:

https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6785599256104370176/

Listen & subscribe to The Startup Selling Show here:

BluBrry | Deezer | Amazon | Stitcher | Spotify | iTunes | Soundcloud | SalesQualia

Thanks so much for listening! Tell a friend or ten about The Startup Selling Show, and please leave a review wherever you’re listening to the show.

In a recent podcast, I shared how CONSISTENCY is a key principle in my ultra-running, business, and life in general.  

Three (3) strategies that have helped me are...

1/ Schedule Everything

I mean EVERYTHING, so I can see what time is actually available in my day & where I can trim or trash tasks that are low-value negative value.

I add my Saturday trail runs to my wife's calendar. She sends me calendar invites for when she's horseback riding or flying so that we always know what each other planning around these important personal activities where we want to be consistent.

2/ Communicate & Plan a Reward

Tell your team and your family WHY it's important that you do that thing you want to do consistently.

Get some skin in the game – if you hit your target, you'll do an ice cream parlor crawl, or you'll buy a new camping gear to use this summer.

3/ Start Small. Quick wins. Build momentum. 

Say your goal is to hit a target of 100 outbound touches per day. 

Commit to 30 minutes a day for the first week, then build up to 45 minutes, then to 60 minutes.  

Start by nailing down 10/day. If you try to go from 0 to 100, even if you hit 90/day, then you'll feel like you failed. Focus on what you learned to improve the next day or week.

Listen to the full podcast here:

https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:6785276717863878656/

Listen & subscribe to The Startup Selling Show here:

BluBrry | Deezer | Amazon | Stitcher | Spotify | iTunes | Soundcloud | SalesQualia

Thanks so much for listening! Tell a friend or ten about The Startup Selling Show, and please leave a review wherever you’re listening to the show.

In this episode of the Startup Selling Podcast, I interviewed David Priemer. 

Like most of us, David never thought he'd end up in sales! He started his career tinkering with test tubes and differential equations as an award-winning research scientist before spending the next 20 years leading top-performing sales teams at high-growth technology companies including Salesforce, where he was the Vice President of Commercial Sales and creator of the Sales Leadership Academy program.

Today, as the Founder and Chief Sales Scientist of Cerebral Selling, David's unique science and empathy-based approaches to driving revenue and talent growth have been published in the Harvard Business Review as well as Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. magazines. 

Often referred to as the "Sales Professor", David is also the author of the bestselling book, “Sell The Way You Buy”, and an Adjunct Professor at the Smith School of Business at Queen's University. David holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Atmospheric Science from York University and a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto. 

When he's not thinking about Sales, David loves to cook, write, and spend quality family time with his wife and three daughters.

Some of the key topics that we talked about are:

• The importance of how you position or phrase a question.
• How to communicate with our prospects in a way that they are thinking about.
• Always talk about sales from a customer standpoint.
• The importance of polarization in your messaging.
• Understanding your customer’s feelings during the buying process.
• Giving the Disney experience to your prospects and customers.
• The difference between value and ROI.

Links & Resources

Website: cerebralselling.com

Book: cerebralselling.com/book

Youtube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/CerebralSelling

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cerebralselling

Listen & subscribe to The Startup Selling Show here:

BluBrry | Deezer | Amazon | Stitcher | Spotify | iTunes | Soundcloud | SalesQualia

Thanks so much for listening! Tell a friend or ten about The Startup Selling Show, and please leave a review wherever you’re listening to the show.