bamageorge
What would you say is the biggest mistake startups make when it comes to sales?
48
Overly aggressive headcount growth in sales...all too often precipitates a cull if growth doesn't go as planned.
100% right!ย
Not measuring or setting metrics. There's always an 'ends meets the means' mentality in startups. Which makes sense. They won't get their next round of funding without hitting their goals. But in doing so, they just delay the idea of measuring certain KPIs. So when their top rep leaves, so does their top rep's process flow.
Great input!ย
Not keeping track of costs, not knowing their net margins, terrible logistics structure. These are the most common I would say.ย
My personal failures have come from bad partners, and running out of cash without out an investor. The sales have always been there for me, but sometimes thatโs not enough!
My personal failures have come from bad partners, and running out of cash without out an investor. The sales have always been there for me, but sometimes thatโs not enough!
Absolutely! poor cash management is definitely one of the top reasons!ย
Oh yeah,ย I've been part of that problem!
Damn SMHย
It happens right?
Not considering the long game run - when you start selling then you mainly focus on getting money, but not really planning - because you're in survival mode.ย
Planning is key! Great point, Jacky!
Kinda mandatory - just don't spend a whole Q planning.ย
Agree with you.ย
Trying to be profitable out of the gate.ย ย There are Multi-Billion dollar companies that have never had a net positive quarter!ย Build your brand, take feedback/guidance from your customers and your staff, be flexible and willing to pivot as necessary and the revenue WILL come (as long as your product has value in the market).
One step at a time! Great input!ย
Someone said it below but over-hiring should be a huge red flag. The sales capacity is set too early based on a projected growth or open territory instead of gradually gauging market fit and demand for the product. Hire a ton of salespeople, 30% hit quota, 30% hit 70% or so, and the other 40% are porked.
Yeah, but then how can they claim HUGE GROWTH without hiring a boatload of people???
It's so true. Regardless of whether everyone is participating, it's important to have 600 seats on the "rocketship" instead of 200 productive ones
100% on point!ย
Not considering the long game run - when you start selling then you mainly focus on getting money, but not really planning - because you're in survival mode.ย
Not staying close to the users/customers. Not taking product feedback seriously. Not hiring the right sales leader for the job.
Not staying close to the users/customers. Not taking product feedback seriously. Not hiring the right sales leader for the job.
100% on the feedback!ย
Totally!
Customer service is as important as the actual product/service! I agree with you.ย
Changing focus/mission creep. The previous company started as enterprise-focused then switched to SMB while the CEO kept dreaming of B2C. None were successful.ย
'Scaling' the sales team before having true product-market fit (recurring revenue).
Seen so many startups raise an A after product-message fit only to have 50% churn, a ton of outbound, and abysmal conversion.ย
Seen so many startups raise an A after product-message fit only to have 50% churn, a ton of outbound, and abysmal conversion.ย
Going for and missing the whales & settling for the school of tuna.
As many have said, get a customer and ignore them. Easy win, quick exit.
Turning everyone into a Salesman.ย
No structure whatsoever! I hear ya!
Updating the pricing structure multiple times in a year to point that you make it onto HackerNews! ๐
Hahaha wow!
Not defining the right ICP and going after โEnterpriseโ sales before the product is ready. Focusing their energy on growing the product based in their belief rather than listening to customers and the market.
You're 100% on point!ย
Giving the sales leadership too much input into the direction of the company.
Definitely!ย
Going for and missing the whales & settling for the school of tuna.
My personal failures have come from bad partners, and running out of cash without out an investor. The sales have always been there for me, but sometimes thatโs not enough!
Not keeping track of costs, not knowing their net margins, terrible logistics structure. These are the most common I would say.ย
Getting distracted from their core goal, I've seen our group pivot so many times its crazy only to land back on what we were initially trying to accomplish. Understand what you are good at and go deep. Dont try to be good at everything yet.ย
Thinking it will be easy and not giving enough planning or support to it.ย
Not having a plan and just going in blindย
Throwing people at their problems instead of bettering their internal process.
Hiring โexperienceโ or someone with โa proven track recordโ. You wanna do amazing shit in a high growth startup, hire the person who has a chip on their shoulder. The director of sales who knows they have what it takes to be a VP, who will walk over coals to prove it. Most โexperiencedโ folks have lost the edge and cost way too much
They fail to build the appropriate processes and structures to enable rapid growthย
Another reason - going for the big boys in your target market without a properly working, fully functional enterprise solution to the need. They see it as a rubbish offering and donโt come back.
Trying to hire graduate sales reps/create a grad sales scheme before they have an established & scalable sales team in place to generate consistent pipeline/revenue.
Not investing in marketing support. If your name is not out there, you didn't make the effort to spread the word, then the salesperson is the only source of marketing.ย
Also, your value propositions need to be extremely clear and solve a real problem. As you grow and learn more, you can tweak and modify these value propositions to carve your own niche once you determine what the market needs.ย
Don't be greedy or stubborn when it comes to constantly evaluating your value proposition and modifying based off what the market asks.ย
Also, your value propositions need to be extremely clear and solve a real problem. As you grow and learn more, you can tweak and modify these value propositions to carve your own niche once you determine what the market needs.ย
Don't be greedy or stubborn when it comes to constantly evaluating your value proposition and modifying based off what the market asks.ย
Feature dumping is absolutely a poor habit I used to have.
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