The document provides an overview of common mistakes startups make in sales and recommendations for an effective sales process. It discusses hiring sales leadership too early, spending on marketing before defining the sales process, selling beyond early adopters, and building the sales team too quickly. The document also outlines prospecting and sales funnel strategies like social media engagement, customer profiling, and developing targeted messaging. It provides templates for calculating sales goals and pipelines. Finally, it discusses alternatives to cold calling, improving messaging to address customer pain points, and managing prospects that lose interest.

1. Tech Tuesday: Sales for Startups Matt Heinz President, Heinz Marketing Inc [email_address] @heinzmarketing

2. Agenda Five sales mistakes most startups make Sales pipeline discipline & approach Customer profiling & messaging Social media for sales Common mistakes & best practices Your questions & challenges

3. Five common startup sales mistakes Hiring a VP of Sales first Spending money on marketing too early Building a sales process that doesn’t map to how your customers buy Selling beyond the early adopters Building a sales team too fast, too early

4. Prospect Engagement Funnel Active Sales Cycle Channels: CRM, 1:1 Goal: Sell New Customer Drip Marketing Channels: Email Newsletters, CRM System Goal: Drive Active Prospects Network / Open Community Channels: Twitter, Facebook, Blog, LinkedIn Goal: Drive Registration Network-exclusive access to content Value-added special offers Discovery events White papers, top ten tips, etc. Testimonials, Success Stories Profile-Specific Messages New product/service offers Referral & Tell-a-Friend Offers Network / Community Invites New Opportunity Alerts 1:1 with Existing Customer In-Market Events Next Step Accelerator Ideas Customer Targets (based on persona profiles)

5. Calculating what you need Assumptions Product A ASP $ 15,000 Product B ASP $ 50,000 Opp/Close % 33.0% Lead/Opp % 10.0% Product A CPL $ 15 Product B CPL $ 35 Q1 2010 Q2 2010 Q3 2010 Q4 2010 TOTALS Product A Sales # 50 56 63 69 238 Product B Sales # 8 9 10 11 38 Total Sales # 58 65 73 80 276 Product A Sales $ $ 742,500 $ 841,500 $ 940,500 $1,039,500 $ 3,564,000 Product B Sales $ $ 412,500 $ 453,750 $ 495,000 $ 536,250 $ 1,897,500 Total Sales $ $1,155,000 $1,295,250 $1,435,500 $1,575,750 $ 5,461,500 Product A Pipeline # 150 170 190 210 Product B Pipeline # 25 28 30 33 Total Pipeline # 175 198 220 243 Product A Pipeline $ $2,250,000 $2,550,000 $2,850,000 $3,150,000 Product B Pipeline $ $1,250,000 $1,375,000 $1,500,000 $1,625,000 Total Pipeline $ $3,500,000 $3,925,000 $4,350,000 $4,775,000 Product A Leads 1500 1700 1900 2100 Product B Leads 250 275 300 325 Total Leads 1750 1975 2200 2425 8350 Product A Lead Budget $ 22,500 $ 25,500 $ 28,500 $ 31,500 Product B Lead Budget $ 8,750 $ 9,625 $ 10,500 $ 11,375 Total Lead Budget $ 31,250 $ 35,125 $ 39,000 $ 42,875 $ 148,250

6. Leads & Opportunities

7. Customer targets Direct and indirect users Influencers Address entire buyer ecosystem Map the full purchase path Personas & scenarios for training Translate to SPIN selling questions

8. Custom messages by role

9. The buying progression Solution Problem/Pain Objective/Outcome

10. Messaging development Pain and outcomes vs. features/benefits Segment by industry Segment by title/role/level Focus on pain & pain killers

11. Social media for sales Target individuals and keywords Watch for early-stage buying signals Participate as a peer Teach sales & customer service reps to interact directly Use tools to manage, assign, etc.

12. Six reasons why your sales (might) suck Are you selling to the right buyer? Are you selling benefits or features? Do you sound desperate? Do your sales & marketing teams agree? Do your customers want what you’re selling? What are they saying behind your back?

13. 9 alternatives to cold calling Referrals (who, when, how) Check back with past customers Watch the social Web for buying signals Participate in customer communities Work with referral partners Upsell current customers Hire an appointment setter Answer questions Join the comment conversations on blogs

14. When prospects go dark… Try a different channel Try a different contact Share something unrelated Try a different angle Engage their influencers Move on

15. Questions?