Document Actions
a repeatable sales process
As a serial entrepreneur, my friend David has learned a few lessons about running a company. He shares his experiences with the world of startups on his blog. In the importance of knowing your sales process, he comments,
Regardless of the type of business you have I think it's really important to understand in a reproducible way how to sell your product or service.
Before you hire the first sales person, someone with both product and sales savvy should define a repeatable sales process--or at least a straw man of one. Much of typical sales methodologies is really product management methodology: define the personas, identify their problems, and craft a clear message (ie, positioning) to help them choose your solution. Follow a process to move someone from a prospect to a satisfied client. Write the process down and that's the basis of your internal product training.
If you've ever attended sales methodology training, you know that the best sales people take this repeatable approach to selling.
Sales Learning Curve
What really struck me about "The Sales Learning Curve" was the method of getting from how do we learn how to sell this product (and what kind of sales skills do we need) to how many sales guys do we need, and when will we know how to make it happen. Not surprising to most of us is that the necessary sales skill change as the organization understands how to sell in a repeatable way.
For example, the sales skills needed at Cisco when the market was buying up networking gear (order takers) is vastly different from a startup that needs to slog through to figure out the sales process (fast thinkers, ask lots of questions, need to adjust). Too often startups hire sales guys from big name companies only to find out they couldn't figure out how to sell a new product.
Repeatable Product Management Process
How do get that same visibility and focus on Product Management?
Saeed