“ You'll never be an entrepreneur till you know how to sell”

“ You will never be an entrepreneur till you know how to sell” . This was something told to me by someone who was, is and will continue to be my mentor. As someone who has been associated with the Startup eco-system for a long long time, here are my perspectives of how important sales is to be an entrepreneur

StartupSales is different from other sales.

Finding the First Customer : It is brutal, picking up the phone, calling people, tellling them about a company who no one has heard of, pitching a product they didnt even know they needed, or if they did there was an alternative from one of the multinational vendors. In the old days , I would cold call, hit exhibitions, exchange cards with Industry big shots hoping to get 5 minutes of their time. Slowly and steadily I would get traction and here I would share some anecdotes that might help startups who are selling. In other words find your audience, identify Cohorts, keep asking questions out of users. If you are in B2C segment a smaller version of what is a Focussed Group could be an ideal way to start the sales journey. Keep asking question and keep iterating

Be Curious : The ability to have the first wins in the start-up phase will be driven by your ability to identify problems for your customers. Customers may or may not be aware of the problems to start with. Be Curious, keep asking questions, keep reading about the industry, keep getting insights. You will soon see insights which will allow your product to be different.

Find your Niche : As a follow up to the insights you gain from being curious, find a niche which is not being addressed by your larger competitors. Anyone who has ready “Zero to one” by Peter Thiel,?knows this and I don’t need to reiterate.

Be Honest : You need to be honest about the fact that you are a startup and that you may not have the financial muscle of a large company. Most customers may reject you but some wont as they may be tired of dealing with your larger competitors and their bureaucracies. I remember one customer saying, " We are always open to new things that can help us increase revenue and reduce cost". This honesty needs to be an all pervasive nature of a Start-up Founder through out their professional lives. Customers love it, Employees Love it, Investors Love it.

Build Alliances quickly - Most industry peers, like a Platform company, Mobile Operators, Industry Forums would be happy to have a new Platform, Service and offering as a part of their alliance strategy. The alliances help in getting referal business and get customers. Quickly build this network

Have empathy - The client that you are pitching too will have lots of real world problems which are left unattended by his/her current suppliers. Understand the problem, understand how your solution helps solve the problem and get a small win.

Small Wins - Your first win will almost always be a small one. A free POC, a small order worth a few hundred dollars where you will be paid only if you have solved the problem. Take it, every step counts while climbing Mount Everest.

Occupy real estate - A term used by my boss :), which means be physically present with your first clients at his beck and call. The new client will love the fact that you are there to solve every single problem of his. You will gain the clients confidence and win larger business.

Pricing – Don’t play the price warrior game, you will be slaughtered. While you need to be flexible in payment terms and all but your cost is front loaded and if your revenue doesn’t cover your unit costs you will be staring at a red balance sheet quickly, and trust me even VC's like a company which makes money

Referrals and Testimonials - Every successful customer is your ambassador, execute well ask for reference and get a testimonial.

Learn from rejections - I always have gone back to clients and asked why I didn't close. Most of the times the decision makers are honest to share the real reason and trust me you will be none the worse for it.

These are some of the things I have done in my life with varying degrees of success and failure. Most of you know me, know that startups are close to my heart. I have worked in large corporates where I have started new projects, I have run my own startup and worked in startups in various phases of my career. Remember every time you tug your laptop and make a pitch, you are bringing your dream closer to reality, and its only you who can do that.

Finally let me end with a note from one of my mentors who wrote the first cheque for my startup in 2005 - He said " Whether you succeed or not we dont know, but today you have graduated from being a job seeker to being a job creator- be proud of it"

In today's hyper funded world this might seem strange but what I wrote is relevant. Remember your next round of funding is always a work in progress. If it gets delayed remember " CASH IS KING VALUATION IS VANITY "

#Startup #startupIndia #venturecapital #enterpreneurship #valuecreation