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Start-ups

Easy to Buy = Easier to Sell

By on January 5th, 2009 in Sales Management, Sales Strategy, Start-ups
5 comments

This morning I went to buy a cup of coffee.  This coffee shop charged $1.95 for a cup of coffee – after tax it was $2.11 per cup.  I watched as the line built up and built up while the cashiers made change for each person that tried to buy a simple cup of coffee.  I even saw people walking away because the line was getting too long.  I wondered why this shop didn’t change the price just to make the act of buying a cup of coffee that much easier.  There is a LOT of margin in a $2 cup of coffee – and by simply lowing the price (even a penny) they could have made buying the coffee that much easier and I would argue, made more money in the long run.

Easy to Buy = Easier to Sell full post

(611 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Who to hire for my start-up? Gray hair or jeans

By on December 18th, 2008 in Compensation, Sales Management, Sales Strategy, Start-ups
7 comments

In speaking to so many start-up entrepreneurs, I get the same question over and over again:  what type of sales person should I be hiring?

This is a very interesting dilemma for start-up companies as they begin to build their sales plan, and as they try their best to get to profitability.  You have a serious choice.  Do you hire someone who is experienced in sales or do you hire a junior, super-energetic salesperson.

Who to hire for my start-up? Gray hair or jeans full post

(860 words, estimated 3:26 mins reading time)

No free trials

By on May 12th, 2008 in Sales Strategy, Start-ups
3 comments

When dealing with large enterprises, its my opinion that a salesperson should never offer up a free trial. If the marketing department wants to deal with that and then pass off a qualified lead to you – great but the blanket free trial has no merit in sales – unless of course you are salesperson that doesn’t want to make money.

Now, this is not to say that you shouldn’t let large companies get their feet wet, but the idea is to get the commit upfront otherwise you will see the trial going much longer than you would like it to go.

No free trials full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

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