Blog

Startups can have the perfect go-to-market strategy, the latest tech tools, and a repeatable sales process, but they will still fail to grow if they don’t have the right people in place.&nbsp;For B2B startups, the first sales hire (or Founding Account Executive) is the cornerstone of scaling the business beyond founder-led sales.&nbsp;A great first sales hire will do more than just execute the strategy. They will build upon what the founders have learned by steering the company into the right markets, providing feedback to the product team, and making the GTM motion an effective and capital efficient process.&nbsp;Many founders don’t get this hire right the first time. Rather than share my own thoughts on what founders should do to set this person up for success, I surveyed 41 Founding Account Executives to share their perspectives.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://forms.gle/3Z76oJCZfk9fkD2Q8" href="https://forms.gle/3Z76oJCZfk9fkD2Q8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here’s a link</a> to the ten question survey I asked. I framed most of the questions in an open-text format because I wanted to hear the raw answers. In analyzing the open ended questions, I bucketed responses into themes to put data behind this type of question format.&nbsp;Note that you’ll sometimes hear differing opinions. This goes to show that every company is unique. There are certainly wrong ways of doing things, but there can be more than one right way.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_Y9zK44X4uj8hvsPrOg8H802T_BTYROxQgWGkjlKXMo/edit?usp=sharing" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_Y9zK44X4uj8hvsPrOg8H802T_BTYROxQgWGkjlKXMo/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here’s a link</a> to the raw survey responses. Below I’ve listed all of the questions along with some analysis and indicative responses:<h2>Why did you want to take the role as a first sales hire?</h2>Understanding the motivation of folks who want this role is helpful for recruiting purposes. Though every situation is unique, note that 0 respondents answered this question indicating they wanted to take this role for more cash. My expectation is that higher cash comp is a significant reason why AEs at growth stage and mature companies take new roles.Founding AEs want to be challenged, build something form the ground up, and learn how to build a business from a great founding team.<img id="n4nyy0449olxas0nrb" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/316nDXlyhQmOX1LfiUCzShgoXAb8Bxakqnc3f2HNVZbhrjaVCptFjzNp3yIikJrd.png" alt="person holding pen writing on paper" title="person holding pen writing on paper" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: 45% undefined%;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="45%" data-positiony="undefined%" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/316nDXlyhQmOX1LfiUCzShgoXAb8Bxakqnc3f2HNVZbhrjaVCptFjzNp3yIikJrd.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: 45% undefined%;"><h2>How did you first connect with your employer to get the role as the first sales hire?</h2>Once founders make the decision that they're hiring this role, they need to go out and find the right person.&nbsp;Lean on your network! Of surveyed founding AEs, 44% landed their role through someone on the team or a mutual connection<figure id="figure-772g15a17llxasntbp" class=""><img id="772g15a17llxasntbp" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/36vgX6e9h90Eed0qDOPdX25RVYnNCMFanVHIyRU3U49YzXJYVtiXsCcOkSotY7Hz.png" alt="two women sitting at a table looking at a computer screen" title="two women sitting at a table looking at a computer screen" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/36vgX6e9h90Eed0qDOPdX25RVYnNCMFanVHIyRU3U49YzXJYVtiXsCcOkSotY7Hz.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>What would you recommend to founders as the ideal compensation structure for a first sales hire?</h2>Getting the right candidate is only half the battle. Getting comp structure right is critical in ensuring they're motivated to drive results.&nbsp;Startups won't have a predicable or repeatable sales motion at this stage, so the comp structure shouldn't reflect this like they would for an AE at a growth stage or mature company.&nbsp;<figure id="figure-7tgpjxoxgclxatbrqd" class=""><img id="7tgpjxoxgclxatbrqd" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/203ULtuvABLglBmbIkE08Twt00TF5AgUObIDytbZQmPCxLy4QP3qH4DxWZMtF1QC.png" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/203ULtuvABLglBmbIkE08Twt00TF5AgUObIDytbZQmPCxLy4QP3qH4DxWZMtF1QC.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>What are the minimum experiences needed before becoming a successful Founding AE?</h2>When recruiting AEs at mature companies, sales leaders typically look for a track record of success beating quota in previous selling roles.This isn't a bad thing to look for, but the role of the founding AE is fundamentally different than that at a mature company. Startups don't have a sales playbook or oceans of data on what has worked and what hasn't. The first sales hire needs to "figure out" the playbook AND execute.&nbsp;Here are some snippets of responses:“...founding AE's are the hungry grinder types that on paper might not be as 'qualified' or 'experienced'. The 'experienced' won't take the risks associated with the first chair, and the hungry are looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves…”“...I wouldn't say anything is ABSOLUTELY necessary. Prior to my first time as a founding AE I had been an SDR for 9 months and a closer for 6. Many would have considered me unqualified to be a founding AE but I ended up having a lot of success as it just fit my working style and personality very well….”“...Understanding sales is good, but understanding the market is more impactful...”“...a craving to learn and excellent communication, the rest of it falls into place as you go. Your first sales hire needs to be malleable and have some kind of connection or passion for the industry you serve or the business's model…”<figure id="figure-mg2jr22rdlxauwph0"><img id="mg2jr22rdlxauwph0" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/36r6ILkZ09kOm2RcncdyrMv0tb7nuJ04BNWH0cN1xzx8ZZfORYqwUKYWlWifyOVr.png" alt="three people sitting in front of table laughing together" title="three people sitting in front of table laughing together" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/36r6ILkZ09kOm2RcncdyrMv0tb7nuJ04BNWH0cN1xzx8ZZfORYqwUKYWlWifyOVr.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: center center;"></figure> <figure id="figure-ju8hg6bwsfplxauzngq" class=""><img id="ju8hg6bwsfplxauzngq" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1cAQXMK0ULED7bhKIgOGrHwfhvDwZwvPlV7DzOBjsULrw8esmP0l28M9tys8lUbH.png" alt="black and silver computer ram stick" title="black and silver computer ram stick" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/1cAQXMK0ULED7bhKIgOGrHwfhvDwZwvPlV7DzOBjsULrw8esmP0l28M9tys8lUbH.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>What's something your founders did that set you up for success as a first sales hire?</h2>"...My founders did a fantastic job by bringing me to the discussion table and genuinely listening to my customer feedback. When I shared insights from the field, they were quick to pivot and add the functionality we needed. They also gave me the room to fail, which was crucial. This support allowed me to experiment, learn from mistakes, and ultimately find the right approach for our sales strategy. Their openness and flexibility made all the difference...""...In the interview process they opened up the CRM and the financials and just let me ask questions to learn what was truly going on with pipeline currently. I had 0 surprises in my first week because I had made no assumptions, I already knew what the CRM looked like and what it needed to get to....""...they brought me to a conference in the first several weeks. This allowed me to practice my pitch hundreds of times and have a lot of customer conversations - also observe the founders repeatedly talk about the product and vision..."<h2>What specific advice would you give to founders regarding ensuring their first sales hires are set up for success?</h2>"...Ideally you have a predictable process for generating and closing deals and the sales hire is just to scale that. &nbsp;If you don't have this process in place, I suggest getting a mentor and figuring it out for yourself first...""...make sure [the founder] has been able to sell into the target market they're asking the first sales hire to sell into. &nbsp;This is AFTER they've exhausted their sweetheart deals and have managed a few full sales cycles with non network customers. &nbsp;Set the AE up with some quick wins, referrals, let them take over opps founders have in place..."<figure id="figure-q1ywmrneblxavepl4"><img id="q1ywmrneblxavepl4" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2fzHXut08wQl3PxuKHhyx0qiQrVIeOqnxC79XWFzQfJKwaMS7iazkCzd59bTTEE8.png" alt="green and black computer motherboard" title="green and black computer motherboard" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="3:2" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/2fzHXut08wQl3PxuKHhyx0qiQrVIeOqnxC79XWFzQfJKwaMS7iazkCzd59bTTEE8.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 3/2; object-position: undefined undefined;"></figure><h2>What specific advice would you give to founders regarding recruiting and interviewing their first sales hires?</h2>“...It’s more important for the AE to have a proven hard work ethic than seeing that they have sold a ‘blue chip’ product…”“...Find the grittiest hustlers you can and then pay them well so you keep them..”“...Ask them questions about legitimately what their gameplan would be in the first 30 60 90 days…”“...don't sugarcoat reality. The best candidates, the ones who are ready to get in the trenches, don't need a polished version of the truth…”<figure id="figure-hqchsmjdrlxavk1dy" class=""><img id="hqchsmjdrlxavk1dy" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/38xhg9plN3sdwbJ2lCfMvZtg2GxpqkhR2IVydyjBLU8JWUUu0Ho876keegH3Ec0J.png" alt="person holding pencil near laptop computer" title="person holding pencil near laptop computer" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/38xhg9plN3sdwbJ2lCfMvZtg2GxpqkhR2IVydyjBLU8JWUUu0Ho876keegH3Ec0J.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>When should a founder hire their first sales hire? How early is too early?</h2>“...I admire founders who grind and sell on their own to start. They need to prove out the value to a first sales hire and that they have a product that the market needs/wants. I think sometime after 20-30 sales...”“...the best case situation is when there are key wins from an early founder sales motion and an increase in inbound queries…”“...founders need to have sourced and closed 10+ repeatable strangers from cold outbound. When you just close people in your network, it can fill you with false confidence/PMF...”“...we were brought on before the product was fully ready, and our eagerness to close deals led to setting unrealistic expectations. The product couldn’t keep up, which caused issues with early clients. It’s crucial to have a bit of stability and proven use cases before bringing on a sales team to scale things up effectively...”<figure id="figure-vil8igjfmlxavqecg"><img id="vil8igjfmlxavqecg" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/34Gsv5aCOpl9peStZU8wNW6E6tPJLdFPsDD09CoNx4SbbMGSTboOBFZ3W30dXedp.png" alt="meeting near a transparent glass" title="meeting near a transparent glass" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/34Gsv5aCOpl9peStZU8wNW6E6tPJLdFPsDD09CoNx4SbbMGSTboOBFZ3W30dXedp.png" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>*Of the answers that referenced a specific customer count, every recommendation was 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝟱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟯𝟬 (depending on ACV). “Customer count” is a broad definition; some responses specified “live” customers, or customers who have been using the product for a certain amount of time (i.e. 6 months)&nbsp;**Of the answers that referenced a specific ARR level, every recommendation was between $𝟮𝟬𝟬𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 $𝟱𝟬𝟬𝗸<h2>Final thoughts</h2>When done right, the first sales hire will be a key player in turning the revenue traction you've built into a well-oiled GTM machine.&nbsp;As evidenced in the survey responses, my three biggest takeaways are (1) you need to have traction first, (2) find the right candidate for this role - not the role once you already have hundreds of paying customers, and (3) ensure you set them up for success.&nbsp;&nbsp; Want more insights like this delivered to your mailbox on a weekly basis? Sign up for the <a data-mce-href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about">Startup Sales Newsletter</a>.

I surveyed 41 Founding AEs. Here's what they had to say

Business process automation concept. Gears and icons on abstract background.

Founders and sellers at startups are given generic RevOps advice all the time:“...a data driven approach to customer acquisition…” “...leverage AI and other systems to automate manual sales and marketing activities…” “...focus on building a repeatable and scalable process…”This all sounds great, but you can easily spend too much time and money on tools and processes that nobody uses or follows.It begs the question, how do you strike the balance between not doing enough and boiling the ocean with tooling, processes, and GTM KPI metric tracking at your company’s stage?I surveyed startup RevOps experts to answer this question and share other key insights to founders and sellers at startups.&nbsp;Here’s what they had to say:<h2>What does “good” look like in terms of RevOps processes and systems for a seed stage B2B company? </h2><h3>Takeaways:&nbsp; </h3>-Use your CRM as the system of record -Track and report relevant KPIs -Record closed-lost details -Keep it simple <h3>In the words of the experts: </h3>"Establishing foundational systems and GTM processes that are scalable and flexible, or in other words, 'Keep It Simple'. This typically includes a basic CRM setup to manage prospect and customer relationships, a simple sales pipeline management tool, and initial analytics capabilities to track and measure KPIs and business metrics, such as customer acquisition costs, sales cycle length, velocity, growth, and conversion rates. The focus is on building a streamlined, holistic, efficient approach that supports rapid testing and iteration of revenue and customer journey strategies."-Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops"Focus on having a CRM that’s capturing activities, meetings, and deals. Get in the habit of using the CRM as home base when you’re communicating about deals, leads and forecasting. Create a unified go-to-market goal, and focus on building trust across leadership. "-Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor"Your priority at this stage is selection of a CRM and to begin using that to store sales data. If you can start here, you will have a better foundation than most. Most seed stage companies have founder-led sales, and so most of the valuable sales data is in their inbox. It is fine if the founder lives more in their email than the CRM, but there should be syncing from those sales conversations to the CRM, where basic lead data and pipeline stages are defined."If you do not do this you will have conversations fall through the cracks and miss out on deals.You should focus on recording closed/lost data in free text so that you can store signals and objections from the market (lost to competitor X, for what reason). This data will be a goldmine for Sales, Marketing, and Product to understand the buyer's perspective on your business and offer."-Josh Lamb, Director of Business Systems, DNSFilter<h2>How does this definition of “good” change by the time the company is at the series A stage? Series B?</h2><h3>Takeaways:</h3>-Additional sophistication through integration and automation to simplify workflows of your GTM team -More advanced data tracking and analysis by customer segment and stage in the buying process<h3>In the words of the experts:</h3>"Series A: "Good" RevOps involves more sophisticated systems integration, including marketing automation platforms and more advanced CRM functionalities. Processes should now support a growing team, requiring enhanced data visibility and reporting capabilities to inform strategic decisions. It's also crucial to start segmenting customers and refining customer journey mapping (according to ABX methodology) to improve targeting, scoring and personalization.Series B: A robust RevOps team and systems that fully integrate sales, marketing, and customer success. This might include advanced data analytics platforms, AI-driven insights for predictive revenue forecasting, and enhanced cross-functional alignment. The processes should support international expansion if relevant (implementing land and expand strategy), and there should be clear data governance and compliance protocols, particularly for companies in regulated industries."-Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops"Once you move to the Series A/B stage, we start to want to balance measuring metrics with customer obsession. How do you ensure that your sellers and supporters have the structure they need to scale appropriately, while still maintaining a customer journey that is friendly and functional to those most important in the process? This is the fundamental underlying truth to any good RevOps system for companies at that stage."-Seamus Ruiz-Earle, CEO - Carabiner Group"You have clear definitions of ICP, persona, and exit criteria for each stage. Go-to-market team is aligned on definitions of Lead, MQL, SQL, SAL and any applicable acronyms to describe your process. You’re capturing and reporting on data in such a way that you can be confident that a cash injection will be gasoline on a functional engine."-Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor<h2>What are the minimum RevOps processes and systems a founder doing founder-led sales to acquire their first customers should have in place?</h2><h3>Takeaways:&nbsp;</h3>-Get a CRM and use it -Record customer feedback -Have a way to respond to inbound requests -Identify your ICP, and have a way to find leads within this ICP<h3>In the words of the experts:</h3>"-A process in place to receive feedback from customers. This will allow companies to understand how they are impacting a customer pain point and ensure product development continues in the correct direction. -A process in place to identify Product Market Fit. Has the Product been tested and feedback received that is of a good sample size to show that the product is solving a pain point that is scalable and not only something for a small sample size of specific companies. -Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) has been identified. Without ICP company will not be able to truly scale with the next stages of investments"-Bryant Krieger, Founder &amp; CEO at Optimi5e"At the inception stage, when founders are directly involved in sales, essential RevOps elements include building the foundations with a holistic process and implementing a basic CRM tool to track all customer interactions and revenue activities. Additionally, setting up simple dashboards for monitoring key metrics like lead generation sources, revenue pipeline stages, and customer feedback can provide crucial insights for refining the product and revenue (customer-centric) approach."Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops."Anything that works! Focus on building relationships and getting intros of course! Tools like Hubspot, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Clay and Apollo can get you equipped and organized as you secure your first 3-5 customers."-Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor"During the founder-led stage you should choose carefully your CRM as it will be the cornerstone to your sales operations. Soon you will have many integrations connected here so you must have a solid single source of truth."At a bare minimum, in 2024 you should have: -A leading sales CRM with relevant pipeline stages and email sync -Sales call recording automatically posted to the relevant opportunity -Good list hygiene, including the ability to attribute leads to a source such as trade show, website etc -Identification of website visitors -Alerting to new "hand-raisers". Contact us form, demo request."-Josh Lamb, Director of Business Systems, DNSFilter<h2>How do these minimum RevOps processes and systems change once the company makes their first sales hires?</h2><h3>Takeaways:</h3>-Good data hygiene in your CRM is even more critical -Define each stage in the typical customer journey so that new hires can repeat successful sales<h3>In the words of the experts:</h3>"Once the first sales hires are on board, it's critical to establish structured sales processes, standardized sales pitch decks, and training materials to ensure consistency and effectiveness in sales efforts. The CRM system might be expanded to include more detailed tracking of sales activities and performance analytics. This is also a good time to implement regular sales forecasting and performance review meetings to align team efforts and goals."-Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops"For sales processes to be successful and scalable, they need to be measurable. Founder led sales have to transition into playbooks and process when you hire your first sales teams, and your systems will need to modify to fit those structures as well."-Seamus Ruiz-Earle, CEO - Carabiner Group"Your first sales hires should focus on building a customer journey that’s repeatable. How do they find out about your company? How do they evaluate your solution? What needs to happen before and after they sign on to work with you? For each stage, make sure you’re capturing the pieces of data you need before moving onto the next step."Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor"The biggest shift is that sales now becomes a "multi-player" game. Early on you want to lock in more rigidity in your CRM so that you can ensure good data hygiene. You will thank yourself 6 months - 1 year down the line that this was something you put effort towards."-Josh Lamb, Director of Business Systems, DNSFilter<h2>What are the most impactful RevOps mistakes early stage B2B companies make before bringing in a third party or in-house RevOps expert?</h2><h3>Takeaways:</h3>-Buying excess tools that the teams don’t use -Implementing too complex of processes that the teams don’t follow -Not having clean data in the CRM<h3>In the words of the experts:</h3>"Spending on GTM technology without a leader to lead the alignment between business needs and systems. Generally it leads to inefficient systems that cost more than they return."-Bryant Krieger, Founder &amp; CEO at Optimi5e"Underestimating the Importance of Clean Data: Many early-stage companies fail to establish strict data entry protocols, which leads to inaccurate data that can skew insights and decisions.Overcomplicating Processes: Implementing too complex systems or processes that the team cannot efficiently use or does not fully need at their stage can waste resources and reduce agility.Neglecting Integration: Failing to ensure that RevOps systems communicate seamlessly with each other can lead to inefficiencies and data silos that hinder growth."-Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops"Going overly complex and overly investing in systems far too early. You don’t need 75 tools as a Series A company, you need 10 tools that are well implemented and integrated into your entire go-to-market strategy."-Seamus Ruiz-Earle, CEO - Carabiner Group"Excel Fiefdoms! It’s so easy for early stage operators to get into the bad habit of wanting to control their world in a spreadsheet - the problem is that their data may or may not match what another department is working with, and there comes a time when their system breaks and nothing has been captured in the CRM."Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor<h2>What emerging trends or developments do you see in the field of RevOps, and how might they impact startups?</h2><h3>Takeaways:</h3>-Though once only possible for later stage companies, startups can use AI for RevOps workflows -Prospect and customer data is becoming more accessible and actionable<h3>In the words of the experts:</h3>"-AI and Machine Learning: The adoption of AI tools for predictive analytics is increasing, enhancing lead scoring, revenue forecasting, and customer behavior prediction and health management. -Increased Emphasis on Customer Success: Integrating customer success more deeply into the RevOps framework to boost retention and lifetime value.&nbsp; -Data Privacy and Compliance: As regulations tighten globally, more startups are prioritizing compliant data management practices within their RevOps strategies."-Leore Spira, director of RevOps, Blink Ops"The affordability and accessibility of data and engagement tools! Quality data used to be a high barrier to entry with Zoominfo being the only reliable game in town; likewise for Salesloft/Outreach/Groove. While the legacy companies transform into monolith platforms, the good news is that scrappy tools like Apollo and Clay are making it possible to get up and running with much more ease in the past."-Jacki Leahy - Fractional RevOps advisor"There are 3 trends I see emerging in early 2024:1. The use of AI is exploding as it is for other departments. I expect to see tools that take the place of a RevOps Analyst (which typically would not be affordable to seed and series A companies)2. Tools which enforce better standardization and visualization of the sales process. Rattle and Sweep are promising tools here.3. Better use of existing data. We have passed through SaaS Winter, and companies are looking now to shore up their internal processes so that they can fix holes in their funnel, have improved confidence in metrics, and make better decisions."-Josh Lamb, Director of Business Systems, DNSFilter<h2>Final thoughts</h2>Your short term business goals should determine the <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">demand gen</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-structure-your-first-sales-calls-to-keep-deals-moving-forward" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-structure-your-first-sales-calls-to-keep-deals-moving-forward" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sales activities</a> you do and <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-start-cold-outreach-to-get-your-first-paying-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-start-cold-outreach-to-get-your-first-paying-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">experiments you run</a> as you refine your GTM motion. Only after you determine “what needs to be done” can you design the tools to use, the team you build, and processes you need to follow to ensure you’re effective and efficient.&nbsp;Investing in RevOps workflows should be accretive to your business, not burdensome. If you’re worried about striking the right balance between not doing enough and boiling the ocean but aren’t ready to make a full-time RevOps hire, consider bringing in a consultant or fractional RevOps agency to provide a perspective on what’s appropriate for your stage.&nbsp;Lastly, I’d like to send a HUGE thank you to the following RevOps experts for contributing to this edition of the Startup Sales Newsletter:<a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantkrieger/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryantkrieger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bryant Krieger</a>, Founder &amp; CEO, Optimi5e <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leorespira/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/leorespira/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Leore Spira</a>, Director of RevOps, Blink Ops <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/seamusruizearle/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/seamusruizearle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seamus Ruiz-Earle</a>, CEO, Carabiner Group <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylwtf/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylwtf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cheryl Evans</a> <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackileahy/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackileahy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jacki Leahy</a>, Fractional RevOps advisor <a data-mce-href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lamb/" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-lamb/">Josh Lamb</a>, Director of Business Systems, DNSFilter Subscribe to <a data-mce-href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Startup Sales Newsletter</a> to get weekly strategies, tactics, and insights delivered directly to your inbox

RevOps Trends and Best Practices for B2B Startups in 2024

“What should I charge?”&nbsp;It’s a simple question. I get asked this all the time by founders because it’s a critical decision that impacts the entire business: TAM, positioning, your beachhead market, your <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-mce-selected="inline-boundary">GTM motion</a>, your post-sales motion, your rep’s commissions, cash flow and financial forecasts, etc.Though it’s a simple question, it really has two components: (1) HOW should you charge your customers, and (2) HOW MUCH should you charge your customers.&nbsp;In this article, I’ll walk through how I think about pricing, packaging, and positioning of your product for your first customers.&nbsp;<h2>General business principles to keep in mind</h2>Before overanalyzing your pricing strategy, make sure you don’t violate these common sense business principles:Create more value than you capture - If you create $1,000 of value for your customer, you can’t charge more than $1,000. You likely won’t be able to charge $900. Know how your customer quantifies the value you create to use as a benchmark.&nbsp;Pricing will change over time - as your product and the market evolves. Treat every pricing decision like a test that you continually optimize over time.&nbsp;Don’t lose money - Though it sounds intuitive, I’ve talked to dozens of startups with negative unit economics through either a negative gross margin profile or CAC greater than LTV. Exercise extreme judgment if you plan on implementing any time-based pricing strategy where you’ll have a negative gross margin at some point, such as penetration pricing or loss leader pricing. Also ensure your pricing makes customer lifetime value greater than the cost to acquire your customers (ideally by a factor greater than 3x-5x).&nbsp;Though less common, another way I’ve seen startups lose money through their pricing strategy is by extending friendly payment terms to poor credit-worthy customers who never paid or paid late. I don’t want to suggest implementing a complex customer underwriting process before taking on your earliest customers, but ensure you set up the systems and processes to collect payments as appropriate before overextending your team’s time and capital investments into onboarding and delivery.&nbsp;Keep it simple for your buyers to understand - The more complex and expensive your pricing, the longer your deal will take to close. This may be okay for large ACV enterprise contracts, but time is valuable when you’re a startup and you can create a lot of value for your team by onboarding more paying customers sooner.&nbsp;Think of your buyer’s budget, both now and at scale - Your buyers will benchmark the cost of your product to other similar products they buy. Even if you can deliver strong ROI, there’s likely a cap on how much your customers will pay for your product.&nbsp;To illustrate an extreme example - think of your buyer and the most expensive other products and services they pay for. In the case of a SaaS product, they will hesitate agreeing to a pilot if your pricing suggests that an enterprise rollout will be more expensive than their ERP system or their functional leader’s most expensive software.&nbsp;<h2>Pricing models: HOW do you charge your customers</h2>Below are the most common components to an overall price. If you have a large ACV enterprise product, think of each of these line items as a lever you can pull in a negotiation if you need to. Having a sound perspective on each of these will ensure you have positive unit economics.&nbsp;<h3>Pilot/Proof of Concept</h3>Enterprise buyers may want to see that your product works for their specific application before committing to a larger purchase.&nbsp;Similarly, users of a low ACV product may want to trial your solution before paying and using it instead of their current workflow or point solution.In general, try to sell your product as is without this. If your buyers need to see it in action for their specific use case, make this as short as possible for them to realize an “aha” high value moment.&nbsp;Unless you have a true PLG product and a proven conversion process from free to paid users, I’d recommend that all trials and pilots should be paid - ideally priced at normal pricing levels. This ensures they have skin in the game and gives you the opportunity to handle pricing objections upfront.&nbsp;<h3>Implementation</h3>Depending on the complexity of your product, you may need to spend non-trivial resources to onboard a new customer.&nbsp;At scale it’s fair for customers to pay for complex implementations at cost or even slightly above.&nbsp;If your implementation cost is high relative to the cost of your product, your buyers will probably push back. If you’re in this situation, think through how you can reduce the complexity of your implementation so that this isn’t a sticking point for future customers.&nbsp;<h3>Subscription - per user or per project fee</h3>If your customers gain proportional incremental value from your product with each incremental user (seat) or project on your platform, this is a logical component to your pricing strategy. Some companies charge per “active” user on a monthly basis even if there are more users with platform access.&nbsp;If you have multiple products with different end users, you can consider charging different unit amounts based on the value gained from each product.&nbsp;<h3>Subscription - platform fee</h3>Many companies charge a base fee for access to their platform in addition to any seat-based or consumption based line items.&nbsp;I commonly see companies negotiate this in conjunction with their per user (or per project) fees. Some buyers would be willing to pay a higher base platform fee upfront if they can get a lower per seat fee, because in the back of their mind they think they may add many more users later. Some buyers negotiate the opposite if they have confidence the number of users or projects will stay consistent throughout the duration of the contract.&nbsp;<h3>Consumption, usage, or event based fee</h3>If the way your customers gain incremental value is more proportional to the amount of product usage, data consumption, credits, “events” or transactions they use the product for - charging based on this may make more sense than a per user or per project fee.Similarly, if your COGS is highly variable based on usage regardless of the number or users each of your customers have, you may want to consider this to ensure you maintain positive gross margins.&nbsp;<h3>Add-on features or services</h3>Though this is less common for your very first customers, it may become more relevant as you mature. Think of this as an opportunity to add revenue streams and additional service to improve NPS beyond your core offering.&nbsp;B2B buyers expect a helpful customer success and support experience when needed. These expenses are categorized under your COGS. If you have a complex product and you reach the point where your customers need and are willing to pay for part-time consultancy to realize the value of your product, consider adding this.&nbsp;<h2>Pricing levels: HOW MUCH do you charge your customers</h2>You need to decide how much to charge on each of the pricing elements you choose from above.&nbsp;When determining these levels, keep in mind two principles: 1. Buyers expect that with higher quantity, their per-unit price should decrease (bulk discounting) 2. Buyers expect the ability to choose an option that’s right for them. They’re used to tiered pricing having a “basic”, “advanced”, and “premium” offeringYou don’t necessarily need to present these options to your first customers. Just keep in mind that this is how they will think about buying your product, so be prepared to handle objections and questions.&nbsp;<h3>Value based pricing</h3>This is the ideal pricing strategy you should strive to achieve to maximize how much you can charge your customers.&nbsp;You first need to understand - and try to maximize - the perceived value of your product or service from your customer’s perspective. This will be unique to each customer. For the purposes of creating initial pricing for your first customers, create a logical initial thesis around the value you’d bring to your customers that you can share with them.&nbsp;If you’re working in a competitive space, you’ll also need to articulate and quantify the incremental value you’d bring compared to any competitors.Based on the perceived value you create, charge an amount that makes it a no-brainer for your customers to move forward with you.&nbsp;As a benchmark, I see most companies with value based pricing charging 10%-30% of the value they create, or ensuring their customers see a 3x-10x ROI. If it’s less, buyers might not think it’s worth the hassle. If it’s much more, it sounds less believable.&nbsp;This amount is driven by the competitiveness of the market. You’ll need to test this for your market, so I generally recommend starting at ~10% and adjusting from there.&nbsp;<h3>Cost plus</h3>With this pricing methodology, you derive pricing from your COGS and add a profit margin. This is less relevant for SaaS, and more relevant for physical goods or services.&nbsp;<h3>Competitor based</h3>Your buyers will compare your pricing to that of your competitors. You can justify higher pricing if you can justify a higher perceived value, but your buyer will be anchored to your competitor’s pricing.&nbsp;When creating your pricing strategy for your first customers, Jason Lemkin from SaaStr recommends the “<a data-mce-href="https://www.saastr.com/the-3-types-of-day-1-pricing-low-end-of-normal-identical-and-anchor-high/" href="https://www.saastr.com/the-3-types-of-day-1-pricing-low-end-of-normal-identical-and-anchor-high/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">low end of normal</a>”, or 80% of pricing from market leaders or comparable applications.<h2>Putting it all together</h2>If you’re a founder, you have superpowers as a seller. You have credibility to paint the picture of your vision of what your future product will look like, and you can also approve of new pricing methods and levels mid-conversation in a negotiation.&nbsp;Your first sales hires won’t have these luxuries, so it’s important to land on an initial pricing and packaging structure that’s repeatable.&nbsp;Many first time founders don’t appreciate that their pricing structure impacts their ability to hire sales talent as much as it impacts their ability to onboard new customers. Sales hires are compensated by the amount of money they bring in the door. All else being equal, bespoke pricing structures where more cash is collected later throughout the customer lifecycle is less attractive to prospective sales hires than a large lump-sum of cash collected upfront.&nbsp;It will require trial and error, but you should strive to arrive at a win-win-win pricing structure: a win for your customers that enables them to realize value through an easy buying process; a win for your business that allows you to scale profitably, and a win for your sales reps that fairly compensates them for their work and keeps them motivated to achieve outsized results.&nbsp;

Pricing and packaging: What to charge on Day 1 to excite your customers and reps

Happy young male customer support executive working in office

“The first calls always seem to go well, but I can’t seem to move the conversation forward after this. What should I be doing differently?”If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. I get asked some variation of this question all the time by founders and sellers at early stage startups.&nbsp;The key is to not judge meetings based on pleasantness. You should judge meetings on desire. Any experienced seller can share stories of introductory calls that seemed unpleasant but eventually turned into deals - this is because there was desire.&nbsp;Any buyer journey moves from Awareness → Interest → Desire → Action. If they’ve shown up to the meeting, they have an interest. Your job as a seller is to either move the prospect to the desire stage, or disqualify them.&nbsp;When deals fail to move beyond the first calls, it’s because they don’t have a desire to continue the buying process. This is because they don’t see enough value, and if they’re a qualified buyer it probably means you didn’t do enough discovery.Your goal as a seller is to convert demand into revenue and delighted customers. You do this by qualifying demand and framing value through discovery.&nbsp;In this article, I share how to structure your first calls to drive the deal forward.&nbsp;<figure id="figure-ng84vpraulvoe883f" class=""><img id="ng84vpraulvoe883f" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/czDc2pT4PW56kInLzUFwAovRSKTRsy4LrmcaEkxAf6rWzPgKLB8RV4Uv2MUqWbIK.jpg" alt="white and gray cable" title="white and gray cable" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/czDc2pT4PW56kInLzUFwAovRSKTRsy4LrmcaEkxAf6rWzPgKLB8RV4Uv2MUqWbIK.jpg" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h2>How do I move someone from interest to desire?</h2> A common misconception in sales is that people only buy from people who they like.&nbsp;This isn’t true.&nbsp;It is true that people don’t buy from people who they don’t like, but the underlying truth in sales is that people buy from people who solve their problems.To move someone from interest to desire, you need to understand their problem and show that you can solve it. Ideally, you want to quantify the business impact of your solution to a decision maker’s big problem.&nbsp;You’ll know you’ve reached the desire stage when you can ask these three questions and get the following answers:Do you want to buy this? Yes <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: calc(18px * var(--body-fontSize, 1)); font-weight: inherit; font-style: var(--body-fontStyle, normal); background-color: rgba(249,250,251,var(--tw-bg-opacity));">When do you want to buy this? <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: calc(18px * var(--body-fontSize, 1)); font-weight: inherit; font-style: var(--body-fontStyle, normal); background-color: rgba(249,250,251,var(--tw-bg-opacity));">(they tell you when) <span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: calc(18px * var(--body-fontSize, 1)); font-weight: inherit; font-style: var(--body-fontStyle, normal); background-color: rgba(249,250,251,var(--tw-bg-opacity));">How do you buy this? (they tell you the steps to buy your product)&nbsp;The way to get here will look different based on your product and who you sell to, but here’s how I would think about structuring the buyer journey.&nbsp;<h2>How to structure your first calls</h2>Know where on the AIDA journey your buyers are in your first meeting with them. With this context, qualify them and frame value for qualified buyers through discovery in as simple of a process as possible.&nbsp;Should I have separate calls for qualification, discovery, demo, and presenting terms? Maybe. Time kills all deals, and if you’re selling to a busy person then setting up 4+ calls means that the sales process will take weeks or months. This might be okay. If you’re selling an expensive, complex product then this is normal since you’ll need to get consensus among multiple personas.&nbsp;One item I challenge startups to ask themselves, especially if you have a simple product, is if you actually need to run a demo. Especially if you’re the founder acquiring your first customers, you may be able to get away with just a slide deck (or even just a vision) before sending over the MSA with your terms and conditions.&nbsp;Can I qualify, do discovery, do a demo, and present terms all in one call? Maybe. If you have a simple, inexpensive product and you know your prospect is the decision maker with purchasing power, this can work.&nbsp;If you’re in this situation, this process is probably fine for your first customers - but I’d ask yourself if you can build a self-serve motion into your product so you can reduce sales cycle time and CAC (assuming at scale you’d have a sales rep take these calls, which adds cost).&nbsp;How should I run each call? Everyone hates meetings without agendas. Set an agenda in the meeting invite, and start calls with an upfront contract to agree on it. This might sound something like:“Hi {name}, great to finally meet you! Like I mentioned in the agenda, my goal with this call is to explore if we’re a good fit to help your team. To do that, I’ll ask some questions to better understand your business, and I’m sure you’ll have plenty of questions for me so I’ll leave time for that afterwards. At the end of the call, things typically go one of two ways - we’ll either align on the next steps to scope what working together would look like, or we’ll part ways and stay friends if it doesn’t look like we’re a good fit for each other. Sound fair?”Some sellers take a few minutes upfront to build rapport, while others dive right into business. I think you can be successful either route as long as you have gravitas, respect for their time, and are earnest in trying to help them solve their problems.&nbsp;Regardless of how much progress you make in qualification and discovery in your first call, to move the deal forward you need to align on next steps. Ideally, this means that you should leave time at the end of the call to ask them to look at their calendar and book the next meeting.&nbsp;Can you still close deals without doing proper discovery? Yes - but probably only smaller deals. If you don’t do proper discovery, it means that your deals are at a greater risk of not closing since you don’t fully understand your prospect and haven’t fully agreed on the value you’re bringing.<h2>What does proper qualification and discovery look like?</h2>Qualification ensures you’re spending time with prospects who could actually turn into delighted customers.&nbsp;You should identify company-level criteria that determines if your product can actually turn them into a delighted customer. This may mean criteria on company size, number of potential users, geographic location etc.&nbsp;Ideally you’d ask qualification questions prior to meeting with a prospect, but sometimes if it’s unclear you may need to wait until the call to find out these items. If I’m engaging with a prospect over email and they want to set up a call, I may ask something like: “Hey {name},&nbsp; Just to make sure we’re a good fit to work together and a call isn’t a waste of your time, we can only work with companies that meet the following criteria: (Qualification criteria 1) (Qualification criteria 2) (Qualification criteria 3)Can you confirm you meet these criteria?”When you’re having your very first calls with prospects as a founder, it’s tempting to ignore this step because you realize how hard it is to <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">generate demand</a> and every lead seems so valuable. You may even be tempted to “fit a square through a circular hole” if prospects are on the periphery of your ICP because pressure from your product team and investors are making you feel desperate to get your first customers.&nbsp;In these situations with prospects on the periphery of your ICP, I’d recommend focusing on long term goals over short term wins. Really ask yourself if a year from now you’d be glad that you spent time trying to make them a delighted customer.&nbsp;<h3>Discovery</h3>You’d ideally like to know everything about your prospect’s business, but you also want to make the buying experience as painless as possible. If you have a simple product and your prospect is ready to buy, they don’t want to sit through an extensive discovery and qualification process where they’re bombarded with questions.&nbsp;The art of selling is about getting your prospect to see the value they could achieve through your product or service. “Value” could be a number of different things - dollars saved, extra revenue, time saved, lowered risk, personal prestige, etc. Discovery is how you uncover what’s important to your decision maker so you can articulate how you add value or show this through a product demonstration.&nbsp;There are a number of great resources on how to run discovery and qualification. If these are new to you, consider looking at <a data-mce-href="https://meddicc.com/meddpicc-sales-methodology-and-process" href="https://meddicc.com/meddpicc-sales-methodology-and-process" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MEDDPICC</a> or <a data-mce-href="https://www.gong.io/blog/spin-selling/" href="https://www.gong.io/blog/spin-selling/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SPIN selling</a>. Regardless of the process you use, you’ll want to understand the prospect’s current situation, why this is a problem, and the benefits they see of changing to your solution.Discovery and qualification shouldn’t be viewed as a one-time, static, check-the-box exercise. If you have a complex enterprise product, it will take several meetings with different personas before you’ve uncovered every MEDDPICC element, so don’t expect to get everything out of one meeting. In reality, you’re constantly doing discovery on every meeting with a prospect to de-risk a deal, even if you’ve met several times.&nbsp; Only once you understand these items should you present your solution and price. You need to continue driving the deal forward every meeting until you reach this point.&nbsp;<h2>Final thoughts</h2>In terms of advantageous information asymmetry, you hold two pieces of power over your prospective buyers when you begin a deal: (1) what your product does, and (2) price.&nbsp;Once they have an impression of what these two items are, they can make a decision on if your solution is a good fit. Proper qualification and discovery gives you the information you need to paint the narrative of what value your product will do and what pain it eliminates.&nbsp;To continue driving the deal forward, focus on qualification and discovery to move the buyer through the AIDA journey.&nbsp;

How to structure your first sales calls to keep deals moving forward

Abstract blurred event exhibition with people background, business convention show concept.

Booths full of over-eager SDRs wearing matching team polos jockeying to scan your badge; happy hours cornered by the annoying sales rep you don’t want to buy from who’s had a few too many; informational sessions where you don’t learn anything new in an hour - we’ve all had bad experiences at conferences.&nbsp;These experiences unfairly convince some people that conferences are a waste of time. I believe that if planned and executed correctly, conferences give startups an opportunity to engage with buyers they’d never be able to otherwise reach.&nbsp;I think every startup should have a conference strategy as part of their go-to-market motion, and here in my third and final article of my demand gen mini-series I’m going to walk through a startup seller’s playbook on how to make the most of conferences.&nbsp;<h2>Why go to conferences</h2>In my last article on <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-start-cold-outreach-to-get-your-first-paying-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/how-to-start-cold-outreach-to-get-your-first-paying-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Outbound</a>, I outlined that the most common outbound channels startups use for demand gen are email, calling, LinkedIn, and physical mail. These all can work at scale, but they’re time intensive to do correctly. As a founder, you may not have enough time every day to prioritize prospecting, so conferences can be a good way to meet many buyers all in one place.&nbsp;There are two reasons why you’d want to go to a conference from a sales perspective: (1) to generate new deals, and (2) to meet with contacts already in your sales funnel to accelerate open deals. Some founders choose to attend conferences for brand purposes, to meet investors, or to evaluate new vendors. I’m going to focus on workflows if your intention is specifically to sell.&nbsp;<h2>Planning</h2>The first exercise when incorporating conferences into your go-to-market strategy is to find a list of all possible conferences your prospective customers may attend.&nbsp;You need to really focus on conferences where key personas involved in the buying process of your product will be in attendance. Just because a company in your ICP is attending a conference (per the conference website) doesn’t mean that your specific buyer persona will be there. I’ve seen startups spend tens of thousands of dollars getting booths and flying across the country to attend conferences full of the right companies but wrong personas. These are typically a waste of time and money.&nbsp;It can be unclear from the conference websites who the attendees really are and how many people attend. In my experience, conference organizers are open to sharing either the list of attendees, a list of attendees from previous years, or at a minimum a list of attendee job titles and company profiles of attendees if you ask them for this directly. I’d also recommend chatting with fellow founders in your industry to get a perspective on attendees at conferences you’re evaluating.&nbsp;From a perspective of attending conferences to initiate in-person interactions, there are a few different levels of investment you can choose: -Purchase a ticket to attend -Purchase a booth in the exhibit area -Speak or lead a session -Host an event outside of the conferenceFrom the list of conferences that you’re exploring, choose how you want to show up to each conference and make sure you plan ahead of time.&nbsp;Booths can be expensive (many start at &gt;$2,000 depending on the conference), but can be a good investment if you have a low ACV product at a conference flooded with personas who are the user and can make a buying decision quickly. Some conferences run out of booth space, so make sure you sign up at least a few months in advance.&nbsp;Most conferences actively look for industry experts to be speakers because they attract attendees with the hook of being the central meeting place to showcase latest trends and technology. Unless you already have a strong brand, you’ll need to actively apply to be a speaker. This can be a great way to generate awareness if you’re selected because you have a captive audience of potential buyers listening to you as an expert in your field. Applications often close 6-9 months in advance of the conference, so make sure you plan accordingly. As an added benefit, if you’re chosen to speak you’ll likely get free tickets or a discounted booth space.Another great option is to host an event such as a happy hour or dinner just outside the conference one evening. This is a great way to have better one on one conversations in a more relaxed setting than the conference itself. Make sure you set up the event well in advance and actively drive people to attend. To reduce the cost, it’s common to partner with another company on this who has the same ICP.&nbsp;If you know a conference will be full of buyers and you have the money to invest, an ideal 1-2-3 punch would be to (1) have a speaker spot early on in the conference where you make a comment to the audience to stop by your booth, (2) speak to people who come by the booth, and (3) invite qualified buyers from the booth to attend the “invite-only” event you’re hosting outside the conference.&nbsp;If you don’t have the budget to spend on a booth or event, you can still get value out of conferences by buying a ticket to attend. If you go this route, prep is even more important because you need to be proactive to generate any new business. I’ve even shown up to some conferences without a ticket and have been able to meet with prospects outside of the main event hall at local coffee shops or open happy hour events.&nbsp;<h2>Prep before the conference</h2>The worst thing you can do after you’ve paid thousands of dollars to attend a conference is show up without a plan and without any meetings already scheduled. There are three main areas to plan around:1. For contacts in your sales funnel&nbsp; Reach out in advance to set up a meeting at the conference so you can have an in-person touch point. This gives you an opportunity to further build the relationship, do deeper discovery and qualification than what you can do over a 45 minute video call, and find ways to accelerate the deal.2. For prospects in your ICP you haven’t ever met&nbsp; Launch an outreach campaign a couple weeks ahead of the conference to ask if they want to meet while at the event. If you’re attending a key industry conference, the messaging I use in my outreach assumes that my prospects are also attending. Any prospect who’s a key player in their industry will be aware of the conference, and sometimes this outreach can generate meetings even if they aren’t attending.&nbsp;Like any outreach campaign, it will take a bit of work. However, your time at the conference is short and valuable, so it’s worth the upfront effort so you can maximize your productivity while at the conference.&nbsp;One sales leader I know won’t pay for his reps to attend conferences unless they show that they’ve booked meetings with at least 10 prospects ahead of time. Though this may be a bit extreme, it goes to show that disciplined sellers take conference preparation seriously.&nbsp;3. Sessions, happy hours, dinners, and other events Plan ahead of time which ones are most relevant for you and your team to attend. It can be helpful to divide and conquer among the team you have going to the conference to ensure you cover a broad base. If your CEO is speaking, have the rest of your team sitting throughout the room to follow up with any intrigued attendees.&nbsp;<h2>At the conference</h2>The two biggest mistakes I see from sellers at conferences are (1) trying to pitch everyone, and (2) spending too much time with the wrong people (unqualified prospects, non-buyers, or their own team). I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t spend time expanding your network beyond just your ICP or have any fun at conferences, but time at the conference will fly by so make sure you’re focused on your goals.&nbsp;Unless you’ve set up a specific meeting with a prospect, most don’t want to be pitched at the conference because they’re overwhelmed and have their own priorities to accomplish. Instead, they’d prefer meeting after the conference if it sounds like you could be a good fit to help.&nbsp;Rather than pitching everyone, I like to go into every conference with a prioritized list of “ideal next steps” if I talk with a prospective buyer who I want to continue the conversation with. This might look like:Ideal next step 1: Have them open up their calendar on their phone and schedule a meeting for the following week Ideal next step 2 (if they won’t agree to step 1): Ask for their phone number, text them, and get verbal confirmation that they’ll talk to you when you call them next week Ideal next step 3 (if they won’t agree to 1 or 2): Get their email address so you can email them next week Ideal next step 4 (if they won’t agree to 1-3): Give them your contact information and any one-pagers.&nbsp;Too many founders and sellers at conferences jump straight to steps 3 or 4, but the likelihood of creating a deal is much higher if you can accomplish 1 or 2.&nbsp;<h3>Scrappy ways to find prospects</h3>Having a booth or hosting an event provides a natural way to engage with prospects, but even on top of this you can still network your way into new deals.&nbsp;Conferences generally have specific time blocks for meals, sessions, breaks, and exhibition hall hours. If you make sure you’re at the right places at the right times here, you can generally meet a few new people during each time block. If it looks like a lot of buyers are sitting down for breakfast at a breadth of tables across the dining area, I’ll sometimes sit down at one table, chat for a bit before excusing myself and then sitting at another table across the room to increase the number of prospects I meet during that given time block.&nbsp;Many people are afraid to introduce themselves to strangers, but want to meet people at conferences and are happy to continue a conversation that’s been started. If going to conferences to sell makes you nervous, keeping this in mind can help lower the stakes to initiate a conversation.&nbsp;<h2>Post conference follow up</h2>This is one of the most important parts of the conference. Even if a prospect tells you they’ll follow up with you next week, many won’t because they have other competing priorities and are still in the “awareness” or “interest” stage of their buyer’s journey. This means you need to be proactive to drive the conversation forward so you can either disqualify them or move them from “interest” to “desire”.If you have a list of attendees who seemed like they’re in your ICP but you didn’t get the chance to meet at the conference, run an outreach campaign to these folks too. I’ve generated a number of deals with prospects who I never met while at the conference but was able to connect with this way.&nbsp;<h2>Final thoughts</h2>Every startup seller should have a conference strategy as part of their go-to-market motion. Even if you don’t plan on attending any this year, you should at least know which ones your buyers are going to.&nbsp;Especially as digital demand gen channels become more saturated with the proliferation of automation and AI into outreach tools, conferences remain a great channel to meet prospects and accelerate deals.&nbsp;

Stop hating conferences: how to sell at conferences as a startup

person holding pencil near laptop computer

This is the second article of my three part mini-series on demand gen. If you haven’t already, check out the first article: <a data-mce-href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" href="https://yourstartupsales.com/blog/demand-gen-first-principles-to-acquire-your-earliest-customers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Demand Gen First Principles</a>. Subscribe to <a data-mce-href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Startup Sales Newsletter</a> to make sure you get the rest! In last week’s article, I outlined that the three channels to acquire new customers are outbound, inbound, and partnerships. This is a deep dive on outbound.&nbsp;My focus will be from the perspective of startups trying to acquire their first paying customers, though many of these principles apply to outbound demand gen at mature businesses.&nbsp;<h2>Why do cold outbound to acquire your first customers?</h2>Early on in your company journey, speed matters. Your technical co-founder will be pushing you to onboard new customers to get product feedback, your overeager investors will be asking about traction, and your whole team will be wondering how you’ll outmaneuver competitors who have more resources.&nbsp;Compared to building an Inbound or Partnerships channel from scratch, Outbound is the fastest way to generate new business. It will work for any business if done correctly, and you also have more control over the companies and personas you target.&nbsp;Perhaps the greatest inherent strength of outbound as a channel is that it will give you better data on your GTM motion faster than other channels. This will help you (1) more quickly refine your ICP, and (2) shorten your sales cycle since you can more quickly define personas involved in the buying process of your ICP<h2>How to do cold outreach&nbsp;</h2>You should approach cold outreach with the same mindset as a scientist approaching an experiment. There are many variables you need to be aware of, and you need to be methodical about testing and measuring the most relevant ones in comparison to the “control” group.&nbsp;Here’s the process: 1. Identify companies to target 2. Identify personas within the target companies 3. Determine channels 4. Put together tactical plan 5. Execute on plan 6. Review results 7. Incorporate learnings and repeat<h3>Identify companies to target</h3>Desired result:&nbsp; Identify a few extremely specific segments of your target market to test outreach effectivenessHow to approach this: Before you have any paying customers, you don’t truly know your ICP. This is okay. Doing outreach will give you data to determine which companies have a problem that resonates with what you’re trying to solve.&nbsp;Your initial theories about the company profile of your ICP should include (1) firmographic data you can use to search for companies within sales intelligence tools, and (2) “why” the company would buy your product or service.&nbsp;The “why” is what’s most important here. The firmographic data is just a set of indicators that may happen to be common among companies that have the same “why”.&nbsp;If you’re just starting out, you won’t yet know which firmographic data points are the best indicators of companies that have the same “why”. Your primary goal when you’re first starting out should be to figure out what these indicators are.&nbsp;To do this, revisit the scientist conducting an experiment analogy. A scientist methodically changes variables in each experiment because they’re trying to test the impact of each variable or combination of variables on the desired outcome. Similarly, design your outreach so you can test firmographic data points to determine what are the best indicators that the company needs your product.&nbsp;Hypothetical example Let’s say I built an ERP system for farms*. My initial theory on the variables that would be the best indicators of why someone would buy my product might be (1) type of farm, (2) size of farm, and (3) if the farm has been around for over ten years or not:1. I initially might think that my software can serve every type of farm, but I can segment this market further. Maybe there are nuances specific to either livestock farms or produce farms that make existing solutions particularly painful for one of these segments&nbsp; 2. I expect mega farms will require an enterprise grade product, and my product is barely beyond an MVP. I’m not sure if small farms could justify paying for an ERP system like mine, but I want to test this. I think that medium size farms have the pain point that I solve, so I’ll test this too. 3. My theory is that farms started in the last ten years are more likely to be early adopters of technology than farms that have been in operation for longer, so I’ll test this. *I know very little about the agriculture industry. All of these assumptions are for illustrative purposes onlyEnd result on hypothetical example Based on these three variables, here are the eight types of companies I’ll target initially: 1. Livestock farms, medium size, less than 10 years old 2. Produce farms, medium size, less than 10 years old 3. Livestock farms, small size, less than 10 years old 4. Produce farms, small size, less than 10 years old 5. Livestock farms, medium size, more than 10 years old 6. Produce farms, medium size, more than 10 years old 7. Livestock farms, small size, more than 10 years old 8. Produce farms, small size, more than 10 years oldI’d then go to my sales intelligence tool (Clay, Apollo, ZoomInfo, etc.) and save searches with each of these filters. If the search yields too many companies, I’d either incorporate testing a fourth variable or narrow down the search for each segment by adding another filter (such as location).&nbsp;<h3>Identify personas within the target companies</h3>Desired result:&nbsp; Determine who within each company is the right person to reach out toHow to approach this: You sell to people, not to companies. The person who feels the most pain generally has the greatest incentive to want to buy something to make a change. You should target this person.&nbsp;Here are definitions of personas commonly involved in the buying process: -Users:&nbsp;those who will be using your product -Champion: the individual who will advocate for you among their internal teams -Decision maker:&nbsp;the person with budget authority to make the final purchasing decision -Influencer:&nbsp;though they may not use the product or have a final say on the decision to purchase it, they have influence on the processFor simpler products, the user might be the decision maker, so this persona is who you want to target.&nbsp;For more complex products and organizations, personas are either above the line or below the line. This refers to the line of decision making authority.In some situations, personas above the line might not know that the users (below the line) have a pain that’s causing a business impact. In these situations, it’s better to chat with users or other folks below the line to get a perspective on the quantified impact of their pain first before having conversations with personas with buying authority. This will give you more credibility in your conversations with decision makers, and it might be an easier “in” to have a warm introduction from a champion who feels the pain than going directly to the decision maker who’s unaware of the issue.&nbsp;In other situations with enterprise products, personas above the line may have some type of initiative or know they need to solve a business problem. The solution will involve folks below the line using new tools or changing processes. In these situations, prospecting to personas below the line won’t be as effective because they don’t feel the pain or have the same incentives that personas above the line do to solve the problem.&nbsp;When starting out, I’d recommend testing outreach into at least two different personas across each target account so you have a basis to compare if one persona is an easier wedge than another. If you’re targeting an enterprise account, you can target more than two personas because there may be many similar personas who sit in different offices.&nbsp;Hypothetical example In the same ERP system for farmers example - this product will touch many functions, but the personas who likely feel the most pain from inferior current solutions might be farm owners, CEOs, presidents, CFOs, controllers, and accountants.&nbsp;Not every target account will necessarily have all of these functions, so I might segment these into two categories: owner/CEO/president (I’ll call this farm owners and executives), and CFO/controller/accountants (finance and accounting personnel)End result on hypothetical example Within each of the 8 company categories we identified above, I’d ensure that I prospect into a mix of the farm owner and executive and finance and accounting personnel personas.<h3>Determine channels</h3>Desired result:&nbsp; Test an omni-channel outreach strategy with the channels your buyers are most likely to respond toHow to approach this: The most common outreach channels startups use today are email, phone, LinkedIn, and physical mail.&nbsp;You shouldn’t focus on what’s easiest for you to scale, you should focus on what’s the most likely channel your buyer will respond to. It’s a best practice to use multiple channels per target because even the same persona at different companies may have a bias towards one channel over the other.&nbsp;Hypothetical example Larger farms that have a back-office team handling accounting may have folks that spend more time each day online, so email, LinkedIn, and their work phone number may be effective here.&nbsp;In smaller farms, the owner may do their own bookkeeping while also managing responsibilities in day-to-day farm operations. They might be away from their desk most of the day, so mobile phone and physical mail might be more effective.<h3>Put together a tactical plan</h3>If you had infinite time and resources, you would send highly personalized, value additive touchpoints to every company in your ICP every week. Unfortunately, outreach is still a time-intensive process and you need to prioritize.&nbsp;If I had 100 accounts that I wanted to target for a low to mid-sized ACV product (&lt;$100,000) to SMBs or mid-market companies, here’s how I’d approach them:Tier 1: top ~10-20 accounts - These are accounts where I have a lot of confidence they’re experiencing the pain that my product solves. I can reference multiple <a data-mce-href="https://www.usergems.com/blog/sales-trigger-events" href="https://www.usergems.com/blog/sales-trigger-events" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event triggers</a> and am pretty certain who the decision makers are that I need to target. I may even have first party data that they’ve interacted with my website. On these accounts, I’m doing very high touch, personalized outreach for every touch point.&nbsp;Tier 2: next ~40-60 accounts - Here’s where I’m trying to personalize at scale. There’s hopefully enough information about these companies and decision makers where I can reference an event trigger, but I’m leveraging automation tools to send similar messages to similar personasTier 3: remaining ~20-30 accounts - Firmographic data indicates these companies might be a good fit, but I can’t find out much about the company or the likely decision makers online. These touch points are mostly automated and less personalized.&nbsp;For each tier, detail a process that includes the channel, timing, and messaging of each touch point.&nbsp;For example, here’s what the first few touch points of your Tier 1 accounts could look like (move onto the next step if you don’t get a reply):Day 1: Call Day 1: Send email - reference event trigger 1 Day 1: Add on LinkedIn Day 2: Send small gift in the mail with hand-written note - reference event trigger 1 Day 2: Send LinkedIn message - reference event trigger 2 Day 4: Call Day 6: Call Day 6: Send email - reference gift in the mail Day 6: Send LinkedIn video message - reference gift in the mail (and so on)Even if you’re just doing light touch email sequences to your tier 3 accounts, you should be methodical about testing different messaging, calls to action, and subject lines so you can get a sense of what’s resonating with your audiences.&nbsp;If I was only targeting enterprise accounts with a high ACV or my TAM only has a small number of buyers, I wouldn’t bother with the Tier 2 and Tier 3 approaches that use automation without personalization. I’d only do high-touch outreach. However, I still would find a way to prioritize accounts based on likelihood of generating a meeting.&nbsp;<h3>Execute on the plan</h3>This is much easier said than done, especially if you’re a founder and have dozens of competing priorities every day.&nbsp;What I’ve found most effective for my workstyle is making specific weekly goals and frontloading account research and prep. This way, I can be more productive doing outreach during bite-size 30-60 minute windows throughout the week.&nbsp;*One word of caution. I typically don’t include specific tactics since there are already plenty of great resources online, but before you use any email automation make sure you take the right steps to ensure your domain doesn’t go to “spam jail”. Best practices are generally to warm up your inbox and authenticate DKIM, SPF, and DMARC protocols. <a data-mce-href="https://www.smartlead.ai/blog/how-to-warmup-email-address-before-cold-outreach" href="https://www.smartlead.ai/blog/how-to-warmup-email-address-before-cold-outreach" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Here’s </a>an educational article if this is new to you.<h3>Review Results</h3><figure id="figure-6h4axucvl4lv2gv3ih"><img id="6h4axucvl4lv2gv3ih" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/73L7q61EkTpmkyMa6iUDA8pXc6FN8rBDSofG3qtgMYocOmuWIkb15S07gvMSMQH4.jpg" alt="person on stage" title="person on stage" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 rounded-2xl md:rounded-3xl lg:rounded-4xl" style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/73L7q61EkTpmkyMa6iUDA8pXc6FN8rBDSofG3qtgMYocOmuWIkb15S07gvMSMQH4.jpg" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure> &nbsp;The only way you’ll improve outreach effectiveness is by analyzing results and making adjustments. After a few weeks, you should have sufficient data to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not. Many sales engagement platforms have built-in analytics dashboards, but you can also output raw data into a BI tool to get more granular (this is what I prefer doing).&nbsp;Recall all the variables that you decided to test. Look to see where among these you’re having the most success: -Company segment -Persona -Channel -Messaging -*Combinations of any of the variables, such as persona/company segment combinations*This is where I’ve gotten the most actionable insights in the past. High level averages on a single variable aren’t always helpful because as they say, “You can drown in a river that’s 6 inches deep on average”. Here are examples of some of insights that I found through this process from my work at previous companies: -Value prop 1 resonates with CFOs and not CEOs, yet value prop 2 resonates with CEOs and not CFOs (based on number of meetings booked via emails to each audience with all other variables constant) -Persona 1 is generally the decision maker at companies above 50 employees, whereas persona 2 is generally the decision maker at companies below 50 employees -Cold calling is the best way to reach persona 1 at a certain company segment, but cold email is more effective for persona 2 at that same company<h3>Incorporate learnings and repeat</h3>If you found one variable (segment, persona, etc.) or combination of variables to perform statistically better than others, double down on that in your next outreach and don’t waste energy on the underperforming target area.&nbsp;Similarly, if you found that one variable doesn’t seem to have an impact, don’t bother continuing to test it but consider testing another segment instead.&nbsp;<h3>Final thoughts</h3>You can spend an infinite amount of time segmenting your market and crafting personalized high touch emails. Done is better than perfect, but you need to ensure that your quality meets a certain threshold so you stand out from the crowd and demonstrate trust and credibility.&nbsp;A good starting point can be to see how competitors or other big players in your target market do outreach. Balance proven methods that work within your market with ways to be unique and stand out.Further reading: -<a data-mce-href="https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/pmf-framework" href="https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/pmf-framework" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sequoia PMF framework</a> - helpful for creating messaging -<a data-mce-href="https://www.breakingpoint.tech/p/the-missing-customer-criteria" href="https://www.breakingpoint.tech/p/the-missing-customer-criteria" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The missing customer criteria</a> for your ICP -<a data-mce-href="https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/types-of-trigger-events-and-how-to-track-them" href="https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/types-of-trigger-events-and-how-to-track-them" target="_blank" rel="noopener">29 trigger events and how to track them</a> Subscribe to <a data-mce-href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" href="https://oakesd.substack.com/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Startup Sales Newsletter</a> to get these blog posts delivered directly to your inbox on a weekly basis

Blog

I surveyed 41 Founding AEs. Here's what they had to say

RevOps Trends and Best Practices for B2B Startups in 2024

Pricing and packaging: What to charge on Day 1 to excite ...

How to structure your first sales calls to keep deals mov...

Stop hating conferences: how to sell at conferences as a ...

How to start cold outreach to get your first paying custo...