Harlan T. Beverly explains how Sales and Marketing should be done for Startups. The lean start-up method is assumed; including the Minimum Viable Product, and a new idea: The Minimum Viable Marketing.

1. By Harlan Tytus Beverly
harlan@fastai.com
http://tytusblog.blogspot.com
Rev. 0.2 7/2/12

2. 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)
•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

3.  Co-founders & Employees
 Investors
 Suppliers
 Partners
 Potential Customers
 “When I was CEO, my main job was selling. I was
constantly selling to someone.” - Harlan

4.  No!
 If your selling feels slimy, you are either:
 NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH ABOUT THE “VALUE” your
product delivers..
 Or
 Your 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/provide value… don’t sell
it to them! Find the RIGHT customers!

5.  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 show 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.

6. 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?”

7.  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)

8.  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.

9.  First, start with really understanding the basics of
Marketing. (from Harlan’s blog):
tytusblog.blogspot.com
4 Ps. 5 Cs.
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Customer
Company,
Competition
Collaboration
Context
customer_action = customer_need * demand(product(5cs),
place(5cs), price(5cs), promotion(5cs));

10.  Positioning is VERY IMPORTANT
 You 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)

11.  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).
 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 and 1GBPs connectivity.”

12.  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.

13.  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).
 NEVER LOSE SIGHT:
 Investors/your company needs to be “somewhat
scalable”… so the marketing you do, needs to be scalable
too.

14.  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)

15.  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?

16.  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).