New Jersey Enterpreneur - Small Business, Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital

You have a technological or design advantage in your product. History teaches that competitors will eventually leapfrog your advantages with new advantages of their own. At the same time Venture Capitalists want to see growing revenues or at the very least, proof of market acceptance of your products or services before they invest the money it takes to grab substantial market share. And you need to demonstrate market acceptance of your offering in order to get expansion funds you need to accomplish that you need to do it before your product lead is dissipated. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Most entrepreneurs instinctively think about selling their wares based on the “irrefutable” functional and/or performance and/or price advantages they offer. Entrepreneurs are generally the best spokespersons for their wares as they are the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic conveyors of the message or value proposition. However, they are totally surprised when a perfectly logical appearing prospect buys an obviously inferior product or service from a competitor, often for more money.

While not always obvious to the outsider, there is most often a very logical method to the buyer’s madness. This method, once understood and properly employed can greatly simplify and magnify your sales process and your revenues. The buying method used by companies to select and purchase your product and/or service is unique to the individual company and to the specific product and or service you are selling. Unfortunately for most emerging companies, the star spokesperson and deal closer (again, usually the entrepreneur) has neither the time nor in many cases the skills and experience to uncover the purchasing methodology for their specific offering in a specific company. These entrepreneurs are usually responsible for a number of business aspects and selling is just one of many claims on their time and focus. They need capital infusion to develop the staff, infrastructure and training required to mount a professional sales campaign and they need consistent and growing sales to acquire the needed capital. So, which comes first, the chicken, the egg, or an interim outsourced sales solution?

For many start-ups and emerging companies, as well as many established companies, outsourcing of some or all of the sales functions and execution has become an invaluable tool in their overall go-to-market strategy. Highly trained and experienced experts in every aspect of sales execution for your company and your markets are most likely available to safely steer your company through the chicken or egg obstacle course most early stage companies confront.

The goal of every resource and investment decision relating to sales resources is almost always” maximize the probability of meeting or exceeding sales goals while minimizing the total cost of doing so”. This goal is best met by assembling just the right mix of expert resources in just the right quantities and experience. Some of those specialized experts may only be needed for one or two hours per week while others may be required in multiples of FTE’s.

Hiring one or two “experienced” sales people at the early stage of a company’s development may not be the answer for several reasons: 

1. Attracting a truly effective sales person will come at a premium price
2. One sales person will likely not have all of the skill sets and inclination to execute the varied tasks required to prospect and create demand, properly qualify opportunities deserving investment of sales resources and create and execute an effective and repeatable sales process.
3. Statistics show that only one out of three new hires of B2B sales people are still on the job after 6 months. The cost of recruiting, training and lost opportunities can be an enormous strain on a small company
4. Creating the proper sales messaging, defining and targeting the most likely markets, creating and implementing a repeatable and effective sales process and acquiring the experience gained from many sales campaigns (both successful and unsuccessful) are critical parts of the infrastructure needed to employ and manage a successful in-house sales force.

The most effective answer for many start-up and early stage companies is to outsource part or all of the sales and related go-to-market functions to an organization that can field just the right amount of just the right resources needed to achieve sales goals. This provides the lowest cost means to achieving the highest probability of success. In the process, the outsourced team can put in place the needed infrastructure to facilitate the smooth transition to in-house resources as it makes sense to do so.

David Hirschfeld has had a long and successful B2B sales career prospecting, qualifying, closing –delivering the revenue. His B2B career spans 40 years and has produced hundreds of millions of dollars of software and services revenues. He holds both Engineering and MBA degrees, has run his own software company for 20 years and has led the biggest sales forces in software and services sales for many years. He is a Senior Partner at Channel Methods Partners. an outsourced provider of sales services with a track record of success for its clients. Channel Methods Partners is located at 200 Atlantic Avenue, Manasquan, NJ 08736. They can be reached at 732-292-4777 or through their web site www.channelmethods.com