maromillion

Mid-Market AE

Valued Contributor

Advice for an AE at a Pre-Series A SAAS Startup

I an an AE at a Pre-Series A startup in the delivery services industry, and it is so hard to close deals. First off, in our CRM we have 55k leads, and at least 90% of them are completely unrelated to our ICP. I sell to convenience stores, grocery stores, and liquors stores so literally any business with the name "Market" is in our CRM. From Private Equity Firms, all the way to biological firms, like literally what in the world???

I've looked and looked, and there is literally zero guides on selling to convenience stores/grocery stores. I am a transactional AE, so our sales cycle is extremely short. But why is there literally zero info on this ICP. I have to use Google to find local convenience stores, which means I only have the store's phone number. No name of the owner, nor their email address. Even when I speak with the store owner, and pitch, they ghost after I send the contract. I have to sell SAAS to store owners that "fear" technology and aren't even LinkedIn level, meaning zero information is even available before I call.

My idea to fix all of this, is to prospect chain grocery & convenience stores that are at least LinkedIn level. This way I can at least know the Decision Maker, and have their contact info. If I make 100+ calls a day using the leads in the CRM, I will have wasted my entire day calling leads that are at least 50% unrelated, or if I do happen to call a convenience store, the owner may not be in at the moment.

I can do deals from SMB (independent convenience/grocery stores all the way up to Enterprise (chain stores as big as Wawa) I've been here for 6 months and never hit quota, since independent store owners ghost after I send the contract over. Most store owners don't even use email on a regular basis. What would you do in my shoes?

✌️ Growing Pains

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14 comments

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Mjollnir

Politicker

3

Account Executive

My team and I were assigned new BOBs in our CRM about 6 months ago. 2K accounts (at least) for each. they are a complete shitshow. unorganized-outdated mess.
we were told right from the start that they are working to tier and clean our bobs, and what do you know, they haven't done it yet.
it's terrible and it takes precious time out of my day.
If we weren't made redundant, we'd proly leave.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

2

Enterprise AE

Use Fiverr or Upwork and hire someone to build out a list for your ICP. This can save you time and effort if you're willing to outsource & pay for leads.

Unpopular opinion but have you tried going around your area to stores you can walk into?

Sounds like you're not set up for success in your role if the CRM is unreliable and you've never hit quota. My last piece of advice would be to go sell a different product for a different company.

maromillion

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

I could use Fiverr or Upwork, but my ICP's email addresses and phone numbers aren't really available online. Even if it is online, it most likely is old information/they usually don't use email. Out of all the emails I've sent within 6 months to clients that are interested, only 20 max have ever responded.

I could go around in person, but this position is supposed to be fully remote. Also, my founders believe that visiting the store isn't cost-effective, so they wouldn't pay for it.

We're just now closing our Series A round next month, so I didn't expect there to be any sales processes or techniques, as we're less than a year old.

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Do y'all have clients yet? What's your ARR? How'd they win said client's?

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

1

Enterprise AE

To be honest, this job sounds miserable. The market is hot, start interviewing.

maromillion

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

I thought this was just normal for startups (inaccurate CRM, not receiving commission, an ICP that ghosts you).

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Sarcasm?

maromillion

Politicker

0

Mid-Market AE

No, this is normal right? I've never hit quota so I don't want to blame the company, it has to be my skills.

braintank

Politicker

2

Enterprise Account Executive

I still can't tell if you're trolling me... If you're being serious then shameless self promotion: https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/somewhat-comprehensive-guide-to-avoiding-a-toxic-startup

maromillion

Politicker

1

Mid-Market AE

Thanks alot for that guide, I realized I joined a startup that is too early and doesn't have a clear product-market fit. I will start networking and look to leave around February/March.

braintank

Politicker

1

Enterprise Account Executive

How much control do you have over the CRM? If it's 99% garbage can you just start over? If so I'd use NAICS & SIC codes instead of the work "market" to find accounts.

What makes you different from Doordash/UberEats/GrubHub/etc? Perhaps you'd be better off picking off places who are already customers of a competitor and unhappy? You can see who is using competition pretty easily by signing up for an account.

As others said, you also might have luck going old-school and just walking in and asking to speak to the manager/owner.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

0

🦊

I am glad I read the comments first, as I was about to mention SIC codes. You are on top of it 🔥

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

If your existing CRM is not reaping anything but wasting time, gets rid of it and Start from scratch.

1. Do you have a marketing team? As you rightly pointed out these guys are not having emails and blah blah, your Market team might want to run a paid campaign to target the like audience. Not sure if you have budget as acquisition will be high

2. Explain this situation to the mgmt and start building your thing from scratch. Might take more time.

3. See if you can participate in tradeshows where these guys are the visitors

SaaSguy

Tycoon

0

Account Executive

If you can close big chains I would focus on that they are likely on Linkedin/Zoominfo. Do a better job of qualifying and selling value if you are getting ghosted after sending a contract over. You should only send a contract if you have confirmation they are going to sign it.

As it pertains to calling and selling into tiny stores - you need to keep calling and weed out all the info you can and take good notes. Owner is out, ask when they are in or what their email or cell phone is sometimes you can get that info.

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