24 May 2016

Newsletter: Early Sales

Written by Sean Murphy. Posted in skmurphy

Our May/June 2016 newsletter highlights early sales for entrepreneurs, who are motivated not by a quota but the need to meet payroll or otherwise keep their startup solvent.

May/June 2016 Newsletter: Early Sales

This blog post summarizes our May/June 2016 newsletter, you can subscribe to the monthly SKMurphy newsletter using the form at the right.

Selling for entrepreneurs is about establishing rapport, project management, and acting as a change agent. The need to listen, communicate clearly, and build trust over time has not changed. I think the most difficult challenge in sales is maintaining an appropriate perspective and emotional distance from deals: balancing fear, greed, and frustration to maintain empathy and a clear understanding of business objectives. To a first order sales people worry about making quota, entrepreneurs worry about making payroll. It’s a different mindset.

Early Sales Efforts Foster Value Co-Creation

Two key tasks we help early stage teams with are preparing for and executing successful negotiations of complex long-term business relationships. These early sales efforts must foster value co-creation with customers because both parties understanding of requirements will continue to evolve as the product is deployed and gains wider use.

Discover how…