sell3r

GTM

Advice for first sales hire at early-stage startup

Hey everyone,

It's been about 1 year since I joined this early stage startup, selling primarily to engineering teams.

We are seed-stage, and have been focused on cold outbound only.

I'm looking to get advice from other folks who've been in my shoes, and learn what has worked for them to generate meetings, pipeline and revenue.

We've dabbled in areas like paid marketing, events, and content, but nothing seems to stick. I've been trying to advocate for my CEO to start using LinkedIn more to drive brand awareness, but he doesn't seem convinced.

Thoughts?

👑 Sales Strategy

12 comments

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braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Can't dabble

Need to invest

Right now your biggest source of deal is word of mouth referrals from existing users

sell3r

Big Shot

GTM

What's a clear area to invest?

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Not enough data to tell you. Your CEO and/or CMO should have an idea.

If I was you i'd focus on expanding existing customers and getting warm referrals.

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

The short answer would be; keep focusing on outbound and add a couple of key shows per year in.

I'd be curious what type of sales method/system you have in place. You can build a lot with just those two levers if the sales system and training is solid.

My full time job is helping companies in this exact situation. Reach out if you need some extra help. I'm not hard to find.

sell3r

Big Shot

GTM

We are a team of 2 sellers, and thats it. No marketing or any other support functions.

We simply just cold call, sequence through outreach, and use LinkedIn.

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

and what's revenue like? With just that you can easily get several mil in ARR. What is your current conversion rate on demos?

I did exactly this approach before but we were bootstrapped so we didn't have many other options. :)

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Have you ever done this before? If not, find an advisor, and do it fast.

This isn't me telling you that you can't do it alone...oh wait, it is...because I was in your shoes.

sell3r

Big Shot

GTM

UPDATE: Got laid off Thursday lol

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Establish this first: X Company is the one company that does Y. Not an easy exercise to distill it that way, but once you have, you need to allow that statement to govern everything you do. As @braintank said, there is no way to know how tactically to go to market given what you've shared. But you have shared enough to tell me that you don't have a brand statement that will resonate with your ICP. And you likely don't have an understanding of your ICP either.

You'll find gold in the conversations you've had where you've proven value. Dig in there first.

Who are you?
What problem do you solve?
Whose problem do you solve best?

Build strategy around that. If you've got a marketer worth their salt on staff, that'll resonate. If you don't, you need one. So rather than beat the CEO for a LinkedIn ads budget. Get him to hire a marketer. And get him to hire a good one, one with success in or close to your space.

FoodForSales

Politicker

in my world - its just old fashioned smile n'dial. That's it. Do it right, and you make sales.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

same as my world too:)

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

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sell3r

Advice for first sales hire at early-stage startup

12 comments

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