sales & marketing for startups by harlan beverly
DESCRIPTION
Harlan Beverly shares his experience and advice about building a SALES organization and a MARKETING plan... specifically designed for startups.TRANSCRIPT
By Harlan Tytus Beverly
http://tytusblog.blogspot.com
Rev. 0.3 7/15/14
Sales & Marketing for Startups
Quick About: Harlan Beverly
Harlan Titus Beverly• PhD from OSU (est. 2016)• MBA from UT 2004• BSEE from ONU 1999• Programmer (Networking)• Chip Designer/Architect• Family:Super-Wife, 2xkids,
3xdogs, 5xhorses
•Currently: President & CEO of Key Ingredient, Inc. (Social Food Website)
•Founder/CEO Karmaback, Inc. (social Network Marketing) Acquired Jan 2013. •Founder/CEO Bigfoot Networks & Designer Killer NIC* Raised over $20MM in VC funding. Acquired in 2011
• 15 Issued Patents, across Networking, Security, and Game Tech.
• Designed “World's first” 10-Gig Ethernet Adapter at Intel.
* CPU Mag Product of the year 2009
Co-founders & EmployeesInvestorsSuppliersPartnersPotential Customers
“When I was CEO, my main job was selling. I was constantly selling to someone.” - Harlan
Who do Startups Sell to?
No!
If your selling feels slimy, you are either:NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH ABOUT THE “VALUE”
your product delivers..OrYour PRODUCT is not as good as you are saying.
Avoid Slimy selling at all costs. Be honest. Provide Value. If you can’t solve customers problem and provide
value… don’t sell it to them! Find the RIGHT customers!
Is selling slimy?
Investors want to know… what is YOUR sales model. WE don’t want to know… it’s A today, and B tomorrow.
(prove B now!) even on a small scale. Get 1 or 2 customers with B and tell me how you will scale it. We care about sales ONLY to strangers. (non-friends/family)
SOME MODELS: Direct Sales
Inside Sales You will have a sales-team that calls people/meet virtually. (e.g. they don’t leave
their office) Outside Sales
Your sales-people are Face-to-Face but outside their place of business, such as Door-to-door, trade shows, etc.
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales#Inside_sales_vs._Outside_sales Indirect Sales
You will not have a sales-team… but will close deals by: Internet website Mail order Phone in-order, etc.
Figure out your Sales Model!
1. Get some leads. (see Marketing section; part 2)2. Qualify some leads – call them/email them/meet them, find out if
they HAVE the problem you solve, and ARE in the market or WOULD be.
3. Each Call/Email/etc. should be about “LEARNING” about your prospect and his needs… ASK QUESTIONS! (book: SPIN selling: summary)
Situation ( questions ) Problem ( questions ) Implication ( questions ) Need-payoff ( questions )
4. Each Call/Email is a “level-up” and you should always close the call with “next step”… e.g. follow-up call… next meeting.. Etc.
5. Let the customer decide to close! “do not pressure”… 1. Good: “As always, if you are interested to order feel free to call or
email.”2. Bad: “Are you ready to place your order now?”
How to Sell with a DIRECT sales-force.
You must make it REALLY easy to “say yes or no.”Clean, simple offering… with 1 Call-to-action: Buy Now
You must give confidence to the buyer that you will deliver.. And you will not fraud them.Paypal, Visa logos, SSL sites, etc.
FEWEST CLICKS POSSIBLE
BUILD an amazing Landing Page (see: The Conversion Scientist)
Use Internet Marketing to “pre-qualify” web traffic. (see part 2)
How to sell on a Website.
Sell the VISION! A great opener tells a story about a CORE
PROBLEM.If your business idea does not “solve a problem”
for “a customer”.. Go back to the drawing board.Show the Business Model. (how you make money)Show how it will ‘scale’ and get big.Show some financials… yes even to employees…
let them know your GOAL is to get X.. Be Honest and Passionate above all else.Always wear your Positivity Goggles.
Selling to Investors/Employees
SPIN Selling is a book by Neil Rackham, and is a technique that is proven to work in direct sales:
The key is to ask questions… truly trying to learn about the prospects business, qualify them, and be able to connect YOUR product/service as a solution to THEIR problems. (at the end!)S=Situation Questions, P=Problem Questions, I=Implication Questions, N=Need-Payoff Questions
Read more & see example questions on my blog: http://tytusblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/spin-selling-for-engineers-how-to-teach.html
SPIN Selling Technique
First, start with really understanding the basics of Marketing. (from Harlan’s blog): tytusblog.blogspot.com
Marketing for Startups
4 Ps. 5 Cs.ProductPricePlacePromotion
CustomerCompany, CompetitionCollaborationContext
customer_action = customer_need * demand(product(5cs), place(5cs), price(5cs), promotion(5cs));
Positioning is VERY IMPORTANTYou cannot be everything for everybody….You must be SOME thing for SOME body.
THE STATEMENT… DO THIS NOW!
_____ is a ______ that does ______ for _________.(product) (category) (core benefit) (target customer)
Unlike other _____ products, _____ does _____ . (category) (product) (unique benefit)
A Product Positioning Statement
A lot of marketing that seems important isn’t. Your Logo can be basic. Your Website can be simple. Your Design/style can be plain.
(as long as it matches your target-customers preferences). Examples: Lawyers have certain expectations about websites…
different than stay-at-home moms, or single men. Your simple design needs to appeal to them.
A Social page does not have to be fancy/have a lot of followers.
So don’t waste too much time/resources on this. Focus on conveying the CORE value of your products & getting the
core & unique BENEFITS across. Focus on trust-building and GETTING SALES> DO NOT FOCUS ON FEATURES!!!! (Benefits are more important).
Good: “Our product can reduce your Lag in games by 15%”. Bad: “We have Ping-Reduction Tech with 1GBPs connectivity.”
Logo, Design, Social, and other Junk
In an early-stage startup.. BRAND is not the goal.
Your goal is to enable early sales to happen.
FOCUS on helping the sales-team get “QUALIFIED” leads.. (see next 2 slides).
THEN, build your brand on your early successes.
The key is to help the sales team execute their sales-model and prove it to investors.
Know your Sales Plan & HELP make it happen.
Since a “human being” is involved in direct sales… marketing can best help by:Getting qualified leads for the humans.
How?Targeted Advertising -> email/phone acquisition -> list.SEO -> email/phone acquisition -> list. (if possible capture some qualifying data for the
human sales-team).*Harlan’s example:
NEVER LOSE SIGHT: Investors/your company needs to be “somewhat
scalable”… so the marketing you do, needs to be scalable too.
Marketing for Direct Sales
Lots of Web Traffic is NOT the goal… the goal is to get “Qualified” web traffic: Visitors that have the problem you solve Visitors that are in a “buying mood” Visitors that are “ready to click” BUY NOW
How? Targeted Advertising (google/facebook)… targeting people who are your Target
Market who are: Searching for what you solve. Like competing products. Fit a customer profile.
Landing Page: Focus on building great landing pages for each product. A/B test them if you can… so you will always get the best results. A/B test ads too… A/B test everything if you can.
Analytics. Did I mention A/B testing… you MUST know how your site performs to know what
is broken. Enable Google Analytics, and use any tools you can to measure “sales
conversions” See “the funnel” (next slide)
Marketing for Indirect Sales (web)
Direct or Indirect sales, you will always have customers at various stages. MEASURE AND TRACK stages of prospects
Try to keep in mind that customers have a “buying process” of their own... Learn it! Ex: who has to approve?
The Sales Funnel.
Do price based on the VALUE you deliver.Do not price based on your costs for the solution.Do price high if you can. (higher than you think).Do look at competitors price, and figure out your position.Realize, if you don’t offer the full solution, you can charge
the full price.Do not discount, unless it has a set limit (expiration)Do use coupons/discounts for ‘helping to close’, but always
with an expiration.Do give volume discounts.Do not drop price. Ever.Do try to differentiate customers & price descriminate…
(although if you are targeted enough you won’t have to).
A word on Pricing/Discounts.