Sales

Roundtable: What Sales Methodologies Are Best for Young Companies?

September 12, 2011

So far in this series, our expert panel has looked at the top sales mistakes of early stage businesses and the most important metrics to focus on. Now in part three, Rich Chiarello, Jonathan Farrington, Colleen Francis, and GuruGanesha Khalsa discuss the best sales methods for companies at the startup and expansion stage.

Which sales methodologies do you recommend for startups and growing technology companies?

Rich Chiarello, President, Above the Line, LLC

Rich ChiarelloFor most startups, there are far more prospects than there is time in the day. The Sandler methodology works so well for them because the emphasis is on qualifying prospects for pain, budget and decision. Any sales force that only works with qualified prospects is going to have a higher close rate regardless of their market or other sales skills.

 

Jonathan Farrington, Chairman, The JF Corporation

Jonathan FarringtonAt the very least, every company should have a CRM system. But that really ought to be only the foundation of an individually designed set of processes that provide control for both management and the frontline sales and marketing functions.

(Editor’s note: For more on CRM challenges and strategies for young businesses, check out our podcast with sales author and speaker Mike Bosworth.)

Colleen Francis, Founder and President, Engage Selling Solution

Colleen FrancisThere are a couple of things that I think are really important. Pipeline development is critical. The first thing that we always look at with a startup company is how we are going to build the pipeline of real opportunities. I think it’s important to target the market very clearly, and that we go after very specific customers who can close quickly and provide really good case studies. Because the sooner we can build practical case studies or use cases, [the faster] bigger opportunities will start to manifest and the more opportunities we can create. But it all starts with pipeline development.

The biggest mistake that I see a lot of startup companies make is they worry that they don’t have enough revenue coming in the door, but when I look at it, it’s not really a sales problem so much as it is a client traction problem. So we have to go back to that prospecting. Who are we targeting? What’s our message? What’s the value proposition — the business value proposition of that message? Who are the right buyers? And how many of these leads do we need to have in the pipeline in order to ensure success in a given month, quarter, or year?

GuruGanesha Khalsa, CEO, Sales Training Institute of Virginia

GuruGanesha KhalsaOn his recommendation of the Sandler selling method: What’s interesting about the system is it’s not just [about giving] the salespeople an edge over the buyer. We truly believe this system is designed to be in the best interest of both parties. It’s very client-centered, so customers feel really good about it. [Sandler] focuses on how the salesperson should develop a real deep understanding of the customer’s challenges – what’s important to them, what’s not important to them, what they’re trying to accomplish – before presenting a solution.

Also, it’s a system that really puts the seller into a leadership position throughout the selling cycle, but the seller does it in such a way that the prospective client feels very comfortable with it. In effect, when a salesperson really internalizes this approach, it’s very consultative, so he quickly becomes a trusted advisor instead of the typical pushy, obnoxious, self-serving, overly aggressive sales rep.

(Editor’s note: For more insights from Ganesh on Sandler, sales metrics and more, check out our recent podcast.)

Content Marketing Director

<strong>Amanda Maksymiw</strong> worked at OpenView from 2008 until 2012, where she focused on developing marketing and PR strategies for both OpenView and its portfolio companies. Today she is the Content Marketing Director at <a href="https://www.fuze.com/">Fuze</a>.