Sales Archives - SKMurphy, Inc.

Subscription Engines for CPG: Which Model Fits Your Brand?

2 Open for Business Stage, Lean Culture Videos, Lean Startup, Sales / By Sean Murphy / June 17, 2026

Subscriptions aren’t one thing. They’re a category of mechanics, and the right one depends on your product, margin structure, and how your customers actually buy. In this video, Igor Krasnykh walks through the main subscription engines CPG brands can apply (replenishment, curation, access/membership, build-your-box, and hybrid models) with real examples of who each one works […]

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Effective salespeople commit to providing Value

Newsletter June 2026: Sales: Delivering Long-Term Value

Newsletter, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / June 16, 2026

Sales is the process of helping customers achieve valuable outcomes; it requires earning trust through listening and problem-solving, and building long-term relationships that create sustainable value for both customer and supplier.

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Effective Salespeople Commit to Providing Value

Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / June 9, 2026

A conversation with Brendan McAdams on how effective salespeople commit to providing value.

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Introducing Emerging Technology

3 Early Customer Stage, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / January 15, 2026

Introducing emerging technology is a significant challenge for founders. These technologies typically support discontinuous products that break customer task models and workflows when they are first introduced into a market.

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The Value Pyramid as a Way to Structure and Define Your Offerings

Consulting Business, Sales, tshafer / By Theresa Shafer / January 8, 2026

The value pyramid model offers a pricing paradigm, a way to reduce customer risk, validate demand, and grow revenue in step with customer urgency.

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Newsletter December 2025: Startup Toolkits

Newsletter, Sales, Tools for Startups / By Theresa Shafer / December 16, 2025

Topic: Startup toolkits. In this newsletter, we look at toolkits that include checklists and question lists for account reviews and post-mortems.

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Sales KPIs for Startups

1 Idea Stage, 2 Open for Business Stage, 3 Early Customer Stage, Lean Startup, Sales, Startups, tshafer / By Theresa Shafer / August 27, 2025

For salespeople, KPIs must be connected to revenue like the number of leads generated and how those leads convert through the sales funnel.

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Account Review Meetings Drive Startup Growth

3 Early Customer Stage, 4 Finding your Niche, 5 Scaling Up Stage, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / June 23, 2025

Startup entrepreneurs should conduct account review meetings to stay close to customers, drive revenue, and build a repeatable business.

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Prospect Inquiries Require A Rapid Effective Response

Favorites, Lead Generation, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / February 10, 2025

Prospect inquiries for a B2B product can arrive in the form of a phone call, a voicemail, an email, a chat conversation, a form fill, or a new record in a CRM system. Regardless of how they arrive, they should be treated as urgent requests that require a rapid, effective response.

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Prep for 2025: Bootcamps on Customer Discovery & Development

Customer Development, Events, Sales, Startups, Thought Leadership, Workshop / By Theresa Shafer / October 1, 2024

Prepare for 2025 With Bootcamps on Customer Discovery & Getting More Customers Today, Oct-1-2024, is the start of the fourth quarter of 2024; it is time to close out the objectives you set for this year and start planning how you will grow in 2025. To help you get a jump on next year, we

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Starting Small Can Lead to A Big Success

3 Early Customer Stage, 4 Finding your Niche, Customer Development, Rules of Thumb, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / August 15, 2024

In a world where bigger often seems better, there’s a compelling argument to be made for the power of starting small.

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In Sales, Act Like a Doctor

3 Early Customer Stage, Favorites, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / August 8, 2024

Startup founders can greatly enhance their effectiveness if they act like a doctor: elicit symptoms, offer a diagnosis, suggest a prescription and provide a prognosis.

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Why Don’t They Teach Sales in College?

3 Early Customer Stage, Books, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / July 29, 2024

The following passage “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki has had me reflecting on “Why Don’t They Teach Sales in College?”

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Q: How Does White Label Work?

5 Scaling Up Stage, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / March 26, 2024

When a firm has a white label relationship they license your product under a different name and provide first-level support.

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Seven Tips for Taking Full Advantage of a Conference

Checklist, Favorites, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / February 6, 2024

Here are seven tips for taking full advantage of a conference: how to prepare, planning your schedule, effective networking, taking notes, and following up.

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Navigating the Startup Sales Maze: Brendan McAdams’ Expert Advice

Lean Culture Videos, Sales, Startups, tshafer, Video / By Theresa Shafer / January 17, 2024

Brendan McAdams offered an expert perspective on navigating at the startup sales maze in a recent Lean Culture briefing.

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Key Takeaways from Fri-Nov-3 Bootstrappers Breakfast

Events, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / November 3, 2023

We had a good discussion at this morning at Voyager Coffee in San Jose for the Fri-Nov-3 Bootstrappers Breakfast. Here are some key items we discussed and my takeaways.

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How Founders Can Learn Sales on the Job

Podcast, Sales, skmurphy, Time to Market / By Sean Murphy / August 13, 2023

In this podcast, Étienne Garbugli and Sean K. Murphy discuss several proven approaches for how founders can learn sales on the job.

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Customer Buying Process: Understand, Believe, Act

Chalk Talk Videos, Sales, skmurphy, Video / By Theresa Shafer / February 16, 2023

A simple but very useful model we like for the customer buying process is “Understand, Believe, Act.” This post explains what it is and how to apply it.

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Customer Care

Customer Development, Sales, skmurphy / By Sean Murphy / February 1, 2023

Customer care is treating your customers with respect and dignity. It requires curiosity and empathy on everyone’s part in a startup.

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