6 Sales Tips We've Learned Selling Into Startups and SMBs with Pilot.com
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Chloe Stewart, CRO @ Pilot.com Selling into SMBs and early stage startups requires a different skill set than enterprise and mid-market sales, but it doesn’t mean it’s not lucrative. Knowing your audience, selling with authority, and being a partner for the long run are just some of the tips we’ve learned and are excited to share with you.
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6 Sales Tips We've Learned Selling Into Startups and SMBs with Pilot.com
- 1. 6 Sales Tips We’ve Learned in the Last Year Selling Into Startups and SMBs Chloe Stewart CRO Pilot.com @Pilothq 1
- 2. 1. Know your audience – understand buyer personas
- 3. 1. Know your audience – understand buyer personas 3 Use demographic data and qualitative analysis to segment your SMBs Map the buying journey based on what is important to each segment Be very targeted with your approach and think about using some ABM tactics to get hyper focused
- 4. 2. Be prescriptive – sell with authority
- 5. 3. Be a partner – be helpful beyond your product
- 6. 6 Be a thought partner to your prospects Leverage resources to help your prospects make informed decisions Don’t only think within the constraints of your particular solution or function 3. Be a partner – be helpful beyond your product
- 7. 4. Sell into the future state
- 8. 5. Make your CRM work for you
- 9. 9 Share customer stories through case studies, webinars, referral calls Make sure you know which customers are happy and what pain points your product solves for them 5. Make your CRM work for you SMBs can lack the visibility and resources that larger companies have
- 10. 6. Iterate quickly – experiment and track
- 11. Key Takeaways ● SMBs are growth-oriented and their pains center around profitability and accelerating top line revenue ● Demonstrate time to value during your sales process to stand out from the competition and make it easy for your SMB prospect to choose you ● There’s usually only 1-2 decision-makers in the SMB buying process and every touch point counts - do what you can to reduce your sales cycle, offer time with or testimonials from happy reference customers to prove the the efficacy of your solution, and make sure you understand the various personas your company serves. ● Make sure your sales process is measurable and leverage data often and quickly to get better. Remember, a good sales process is one that clearly aligns to your ideal buyer’s journey - it’s about them, not you 11
- 12. Visit us at Booth #225 12
- 13. THANK YOU
Editor's Notes
- Know your audience - understand buyer personas This is true for all good sales motions, but when it comes to SMBs, they’re not all the same and you’re going to have to serve a wide variety. Use demographic data and qualitative analysis to segment your SMBs. Map the buying journey based on what is important to each segment. Be very targeted with your approach and think about using some ABM tactics to get hyper focused.
- Be prescriptive - sell with authority A common theme SMBs experience is the need to grow fast and scale efficiently. Understanding this allows you to educate your prospects on how the market views the problem you are trying to solve and the approach your company is taking to solve it. Prescribe the steps needed for your solution to impact those goals and clearly illustrate how quickly they can achieve their goals by working with you - SMBs expect fast results. Unlike enterprise sales, these SMB decision makers might be making a purchase like this for the first time in their entrepreneurial journey and expect you to be the authority and demonstrate immediate time to value
- Be a thought partner to your prospects. Understand what your prospect has experience in and leverage resources to help them make informed decisions. Don’t only think within the constraints of your particular solution or function, but try to bring value to them beyond your product and stake your ground as a thought leader in you space with expertise in their vertical or segment. SMBs leverage third party review sites and customer testimonials for decision-making and serving these up proactively accelerates the buying process and builds good will for you in the future.
- Which brings us to selling into the future state.. If you don’t win the business initially but have built good will throughout the process, you’ve earned the right to try again in the future. SMB’s needs can change quickly and it’s key to stay top of mind. Leave the door open to work together in the future, schedule touchpoints throughout the year to see how things are going, and continue to provide helpful resources to stay top of mind.
- It’s critical to know as much as you can about your customers and potential customers in any business, but especially for SMBs. Since these folks can lack the visibility and resources larger companies have to understand the nuances of their buying decision it can be important to find relevant customers to share their stories and really make the sale for you. Use customer stories in the form of case studies, webinars, referral calls etc. Make sure you know which customers are happy and what pain points your product solves for them so you can direct them to the right prospects and then your prospect won’t feel like they are making decisions in a vacuum.
- Because most SMBs engage in shorter sales-cycles and are often lead by one or just a handful of stakeholders, your sales cycle will also be shorter. This means you can adapt and learn very quickly, as long a you track your process. . Make each part of your sales process measurable so you can collect data to derive insights. Make tweaks in process and monitor how those tweaks affect win rates by industry and sales stage, # days to close, ASP, etc. Do it often and quickly.
- Key Takeaways Slide SMBs are growth-oriented and their pains center around profitability and accelerating top line revenue Demonstrate time to value during your sales process to stand out from the competition and make it easy for your SMB prospect to choose you There’s usually only 1-2 decision-makers in the SMB buying process and every touch point counts - do what you can to reduce your sales cycle, offer time with or testimonials from happy reference customers to prove the the efficacy of your solution, and make sure you understand the various personas your company serves. Make sure your sales process is measurable and leverage data often and quickly to get better. Remember, a good sales process is one that clearly aligns to your ideal buyer’s journey - it’s about them, not you