Trumper

Growth Guy

A new role - from K12 families to Enterprise Sales - What now?

Hi everyone,

I'm at a crossroads today (today!). I'm compelled to go dive in, but it's really scary:

I'm the founder / CEO of Hatch Coding. We have, for 9+ years, sold a computer science learning system (Studio) to families and school districts. We've built a multi-hundred hour curriculum. In late 2022, after multiple months of meetings, two large multi-billion dollar companies in construction and technology agreed to use Studio to upgrade the technical skills of non-engineers (construction, sales, customer success) to improve communication to engineering and reduce internal tech tickets that get escalated to engineering.

These 12 month SaaS contracts start in the Spring and almost triple the company's revenue. One is 99% likely to go through. The other is 80% likely to go through.

So now, to me, it's pretty clear and straightforward that I should find 3 more similar sales by the end of 2023 and 20 more in 2024. This means enterprise sales. That's scary, but also exciting.

So how exactly do I make this successful? ZoomInfo? LinkedIn Sales Navigator? Blocks of time every day cold calling / emailing?

Can I get any advice on how to spin up a successful one person Enterprise Sales team that will lead to hiring a BDR or AE in 6-12 months?

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TennisandSales

Politicker

3

Head Of Sales

i think before you try to bring in more of these huge deals.....you need to make sure these two companies have a REALLY solid experience using your product.

Nothing will be a better sales tool then having 2 huge companies that can be happy references.

if they DONT have a good experience, it will be SUPER hard to win more of those deals.

id focus on that first.

Trumper

2

Growth Guy

A) Thanks for this insight - appreciated.

B) These two deals will start around April 1.

Is there any reason why I would not build pipeline before day 30 of these two contracts? I feel I could build relationships and create fertile ground even if I am not actually closing additional huge deals.

And if this is true, is the best way of building these relationships (and proving that it's possible to scale to 100 deals) to formally try to build a predictable enterprise sales funnel?

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

2

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

The easiest way is to get an AE for direct, and someone (possibly someone in product) to focus on getting the tech on platforms that schools already buy. That way, you gain momentum without the extra outlay. You can also check metrics after a year or so, and see where you get the best return.

Trumper

1

Growth Guy

Thank you for this - really helpful. If I am going to be the AE for direct to do the enterprise sales, i.e. going after corporations in construction and healthcare and technology, what's the best way of organizing my day to make this work?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Suggest you check out the Academy tab on the left of the page (if you're on a laptop). Scroll past the job hunt section and you'll find sections about cold calling, prospecting, etc. I believe there's a deposit you pay that's refundable once you've completed the course, but it sounds like you might really benefit from a crash course in selling to help you get off to a good start.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

0

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

What are your leads, and how do you qualify them? That’s the best way to do it, outside of conferences and intros through your network.

Trumper

0

Growth Guy

Right now, all I know is that two companies wanted to be the most technical company in their industry. I suppose I would qualify other companies by asking senior engineering leaders how important it is that their company becomes more technical, because that is how I got the first two companies.

UserNotFound

Politicker

0

Account Executive

Cannot recommend against you being the sole AE enough of you’re going to maintain the CEO role. Those roles will be competing for your time and attention, and they will also have conflicting goals at times. Leadership tends to make deals “fit” into the company’s ideal profile, whereas an experienced AE will seek out the deals that fit from the outset.

We have a DQ mindset, you will have a qualify mindset. Again, highly recommend against this. Hire an AE focused on SMB to boost revenue, you make sure these enterprise deals have a 5-star experience, then promote/bring in another AE to fill an enterprise role.

Trumper

1

Growth Guy

This is excellent - thank you.

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

I would definitely start searching for new logos as I am still doing business with other clients (1/3rd if these companies onboard). What I would do is segment my leads and decide which one should we target as small companies are equally important for working capital. If not your competency, hire someone who can do it

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