“You reap what you sow”, is a well known adage. Quality of the seeds is a big factor in the quality of your harvest. This is of course, in addition to the larger context of healthy soil, good weather, irrigation, etc.
Similar is the case with the Sales harvest for any Organisation. I say this especially in the context of the Growth Aspiring StartUp (GRASP) Companies in the B2B space or in other words B2B Tech StartUps, who I seek to address in this blog. You need to sow the seed of a good Sales Enabling & Ecosystem Development (SEED) Program, as early as possible in your growth journey, to be able to have a good sales harvest when you need. To support this, you also need healthy soil (a healthy organisational leadership, good market relevant offerings, and operational environment), good weather (external market conditions), good irrigation (flow of good policies, organisational networks, finances, marketing support). The combination will lead to a great sales harvest. But, assuming other things are good, you will not get a good sales harvest if you have not SEEDed well.
So, what is the SEED Program all about, in the context of a StartUp Company? Why is there a need for an ‘Ecosystem’? These are some thoughts on how the Sales landscape has evolved over the years –
- In earlier decades, the pace of change of technology was slower.
- The number of players in the market were fewer, both from Product / Technology players, as well as Services players. Complexity was much lower.
- Customers had fewer options, and the experimentation needs were lower, given the technologies and pace of change.
- You had good quality Sales & Marketing talent at reasonable costs, as it was a preferred career option for a lot of bright folks, including College pass outs.
- The marketplace was more well structured, simpler and more predictable.
Contrast this with the current frenetic pace of change, huge and growing number of technologies, products, domains, highly fragmented markets, high degree of specialisation, low availability of affordable and quality Sales & Marketing professionals for the smaller organisations, customers having lot of choice as well as being in an experimental mode, new business models, highly dynamic market place with high unpredictability. This scenario promises to persist or even, intensify as we go along. All this results in a perfect storm, and amidst this, a GRASP Organisation is trying to scale its business. Not easy at all!!
I would venture to say that they need help, in navigating this marketplace, arriving at the right revenue growth strategy and executing on the same. It is also well nigh impossible for any company to think it can do it all. It needs to invest in strong Sales & Marketing and a supporting ecosystem, that will help facilitate growth. Such an ecosystem needs to be SEEDed well, and nurtured, for right results, which is where we started.
There are Ten elements to a good SEEDing:
Timing – It is well timed, and launched earlier in your growth journey, so that you give the Program time to evolve. The right startup growth consulting will ensure you are able to start harvesting the new sales growth at the time when your initial ‘Network’ led sales pipeline dries up.
Identifying your target Customers – While this may sound obvious and cliched, one will be surprised how often it is not given the attention it deserves. There is a tendency to opportunism in going after new business. One needs to curb this spirit in favour of identifying the type of customers you are best equipped to serve through your Product / Services / capabilities. Segment the market, and choose your target set of customers carefully.
This needs a deep exercise, and while doing so, build a projected roadmap for at least for the next 3-4 years. This is keeping in mind the expected evolving needs of your target clients around your offerings, get a sense of how technology is evolving, and building your abilities to address them. This is critical, as most of the other steps you take, flow from this set of decisions.
Value Proposition / Persona based – In a B2B setup, one often identifies the target customer Organisation as a monolith and address it as such. This is not right. There are different buying roles / personas within the client business, each of them with their own Objectives and KRAs. We first need to know who they are, then do a Persona level proposition building and provide a reason for them to buy from you. The different Personas could be the CEO / CIO / CFO / CPO / CMO / CTO, etc.
So often, in a Sales cycle, when you review the progress of the Sale, one finds that the Salesperson has no idea about who all the buyers are, what they are looking for, what is their problem, and so on. The tendency is to operate at a very superficial level, and hope the Sale gets done.
Once you know each of the Personas in their business context, one has to build a Value Proposition for your offerings, in the context of their Objectives and KRAs. Then pitch to them on these lines, so that they individually see a win by buying from your Organisation.
Marketing & Communications Strategy – If the network of the Founders is drying up, you need to build a good new pipeline of leads for new business. That requires a good cost-effective Marketing & Communications strategy. Historically, B2B StartUps have under invested in Marketing themselves, and relied overly on the network of the Founding team. This mistake often comes back to bite later. When that network dries up, or if those clients have moved on, you are left high & dry, and then scampering for new business, as growth starts tapering or even reversing.
Develop well designed Marketing collateral, that conveys your Value Proposition, offerings, etc well, in a simple and impactful manner. Having identified your target clients, the key people and your value proposition, you need to choose the right mix of PR & communication channels, content, periodicity, etc., to build the awareness, interest and ensure you are part of their consideration set for any new initiative that they take up in your areas of interest. The Key Metric has to be pipeline generated. Work with Partners who have done this well before and can cut through the clutter for you. Do not hesitate to participate in Industry events, as they are great networking opportunities. More importantly, you get a chance to get direct feedback to your proposition.
Sales & Marketing Talent – In earlier decades, Sales & Marketing careers in B2B Organisations was considered a very good career option by college pass outs as they started their careers. Today, with a whole lot of other good options on the table, the earlier attraction has come down significantly. Hence, the availability of good talent has reduced significantly, and there are so many more companies vying for these limited people. Also, job expectations and attitudes have changed dramatically. Given all this, it is very important to try and evolve a good strategy for attracting, developing and retaining this scarce talent. Also, one has to factor in for likely high attrition in the initial 0-2 years bracket. Invest in a few SMEs as well, as they will be able to articulate your value well and support the Sales & Marketing teams. Structure attractive growth-oriented Incentive schemes.
Training – Over the years, I find that the importance assigned to Training, in most Organisations has come down. This is inexplicable. In some places, there is a worry that the tenure of the Salespeople is low, and hence the feeling that investing in intense Training is not worth it. This is not true. On the contrary, this may help increase tenures, loyalties, and the sales conversion rates. Disproportionate importance is given to so-called ‘On the Job’ training. While that is important no doubt, structured training inputs are crucial.
Also, Sales training has to cover not only the core offerings, but also the value added or ‘softer’ offerings, how to position vis-à-vis competition, objection handling, how to pitch value to the different Personas within the client organisation, commercial and Legal aspects, and most importantly, how to position the Organisation and its value to the client. It is important to have a mentoring Program as well.
Without this investment, the Value is not sold. There is a tendency for the Salesperson to just pull in the senior people, Presales people, in at early stages of the Sales cycle, and resorting to price drops as the way to selling. The probability of Sales is low, and the cost of Sales is high. If you do not have the in-house capabilities, work with skilled Sales Training Partners.
Invest in a good Sales Leader, outside of the CEO / COO / CTO. In the initial phase, the founding CXOs use their networks to win business leading to the initial growth of the Company. But, for the next phase of growth, you need a Sales Leader with the right background and attitude. He has to be supported by a right-sized and competent Sales team. Give the person a generous, growth related upside on compensation, apart from the basic package.
Partner Ecosystem – Whether you are a Product / Services Company, either way, it is important to build a good Partner ecosystem. Today’s market dynamics are such that you can’t do it all by yourselves. So, invest in building a good Partner ecosystem. This is both, upstream and downstream.
Upstream, we have the Technology enabling Partners – the OEMs. Choose the right Partners carefully, with a good Technology direction, vision, market momentum, and having a Partner mindset. You can then draw upon the right levels of support on both the Technology side, and the Sales & Marketing front.
Downstream, you need to identify and onboard Partners, who can help increase your market coverage, get you access to good, new clients, and who can add value in the sale. Quite often, StartUps resort to ‘adhoc’ Partnering. They may just pick up a Partner, who is selling an unrelated Product/ Service to a client or set of clients, with the hope that he can help you with a Sale. But, if your offerings are unrelated, he is unlikely to have access / relationships with the target buyers in the client organisation, for your offerings. It will be just like a reference, and that’s it. There is no continuing traction in the Account, from the Partner, for your offerings. Your cost of sales will still be high, and you are likely to dilute your margins, even if you get a Sale. If you win a good deal in this scenario, it is merely ‘luck by chance’. This is not a way to build a Partnering ‘Strategy’ for the medium to long term.
Therefore, it is important to invest in a good Partner Program suitable to your business. Have a framework that will help define your Partner selection criteria, onboard the right Partners, with focus in complementary areas. Invest in onboarding them well, training them, have a good commercial policy for engaging, have a joint business plan, and grow the relationship, thus adding value to each other’s business. Take external help in building a suitable Partner Strategy, if needed. Invest in good Partner Relationship team, who can nurture the Partnerships.
Business/Commercial model – Apart from the prevailing industry standard business / commercial model (for Products / Services), can you look at alternate models, that you can execute on? Keep in mind for any alternate model, which can give your prospective clients more options and reasons to consider you, you should also build the ability to execute on it. It could be Outcome based pricing or variants, a Fixed plus Variable model, etc., depending upon your offerings. Such a tool (if thought out and executed well) can be a differentiator and can aid your Sales team with more selling points.
Industry Influencers – Quite often, I hear from StartUps with interesting propositions that they do not know who to reach out to in their target customer organisations. While you use the Social Media Marketing, PR, and other channels to create awareness for your offerings, a very important medium can be Industry Influencers. They have the connects, and their voice is respected and heard. If they speak for you, high chance that you will be heard in the right places. Thereafter, it is the strength of your proposition that will carry you through. Identify one or two such Industry stalwarts, and possibly have them on your Advisory Board, or cultivate them for informal connects.
To summarise, these 10 key elements are critical to a good SEEDing strategy, that is likely to lead to a good Sales harvest for a Growth Aspiring StartUp. Start the SEEDing early in the growth path and in a timely fashion with Cusp Services and reap the benefits. Don’t hesitate to seek help if you need guidance on actioning some or all of the above critical elements.
