startup sales - how to acquire your first customers
TRANSCRIPT
An 8 Step Path to Startup Sales SuccessGarrett Smith, [email protected]
How to Acquire Your First
Customers
1. Define Who You Are Targeting
Develop Targeted Buyer Personas Based on the Customers You Want to
Acquire.
Developing Buyer Personas
What You’re Looking For:
• Demographics
• Responsibilities
• Pain Points
• Motivators
• Validators
Steps to Execute:
1. Use your
experiences and
imagination to think
like your targeted
customer.
2. Draft 3 – 5 bullets in
each area that
describes the
targeted customer.
2. Build A Suspects List
Prospecting Starts With Researching the Contact
Details of the Customers You Want to Acquire.
Lining-up Your Suspects
What You’re Looking For:
• First Name
• Last Name
• Position
• Company Name
• Company Address
• Phone
Steps to Execute:
1. Basic
spreadsheet
2. Search engines
3. Business info
sites
4. Paid databases
5. Social media
3. Look For Referrals
A Friend, Family Member, Former Co-worker or Old
College Professor’s Introduction is Handy.
Ask Every Option Close to You
• Friends / Family at Company / In Industry
• High School / College Friends / Faculty
• Club Members / Sports Teammates
• Former Co-workers / Industry Colleagues
• Former Companies / Managers
• Church / Civic / Volunteer Groups
4. Create Supporting Content
Acquiring Customers is
Easier With Supporting
Educational Content.
Supporting Content That Sells
What You’re Looking For:
• 1-page Website
• 1-page Sell Sheet
• Outreach Emails
• 10 Slide Deck
• Mocks
What’s Great to Have:
• Working Demo
• Videos
• Case Study
• Testimonials
• Whitepaper
5. Set-up Your Tools
There Are a Number of Low-Cost Sales Tools That Will
Assist You in Acquiring Customers.
Sales Tools Give You Superpowers
6. Plan Your Outreach
Here’s a Simple Plan for
Reaching Out to Your
Prospective First Customers.
Email / Social / Phone / Repeat 3x
1. Write First: Compose a short email with basic value proposition to the targeted customer.
2. Connect Next: Reach out to the target customer on social networks requesting a “12” minute phone call.
3. Communicate: Call the targeted customer and reference your email and connection.
4. Repeat x3: Repeat this process three times in a row, changing the messaging to the target customer to see if they respond.
5. Schedule: Upon response, schedule a time for a face to face meeting (if possible) or call to explore “fit.”
6. Final Line: Please let me know if you are not interested. I will stop!!
7. What to Do When You’re There
Selling is Important to Acquiring Customers. Listening is Invaluable to Acquiring
Customers.
What to Ask So You Can Learn
• What’s your organizational focus in the near term? What are your priorities?
• What do you do day-to-day?
• What kind of tasks do you do repeatedly?
• How frequently do you have X problem?
• What other hurdles do you face in your day?
• What’s your process like for buying service/ software?
• Who would be involved in the process?
• How long does it normally take?
8. Pitch + Propose + Close
Persistence and Perseverance
is Required to Acquire
Customers.
Persistence + Perseverance
Persistence:
• Sales is Time
Consuming
• Sales is a Numbers
Game
• Sales is a Contact Sport
Perseverance:
• People Will Not Respond
• Your Product/Offer Will
Change
• People Will Not “Get It”
• You Will Hear “NO” A Lot
You May Need to Interact 20+ Times Before
Getting a Sale (or Final No)!
