Posts tagged: sales efforts

A Start-up Sales Necessity: the Elevator Pitch

Posted on April 12, 2012

By Steve Gruber

Back in early 2010 I did a blog around developing an “elevator pitch” and its importance when you are a startup.  I think having a short, concise and simple to understand elevator pitch is an absolute necessity to any company and even more so if you are a startup.  Why?  Most people will only give you a few seconds of their time to hear you out and if your description is too long, too technical or too confusing, they are done and so are you.

While doing some research on this topic, I came across a great tool that can be used by any entrepreneur to help build their elevator pitch and wanted to share it with you. The tool, called the “HBS Elevator Pitch Builder”was designed at Harvard Business School and provides an entrepreneur with an easy to use  mechanism to craft a solid elevator pitch. Flickr – Marco Wessel

I have outlined the 4 key points below for you. Remember, you are looking to keep it simple, concise, impactful and memorable.

1. Describe you or your business – this is the “who” you are component? The best bet here is to keep it short and sweet.

Using VA Partners as an example, “Hi, my name is Steve Gruber. I am co-founder of Venture Accelerator Partners and am passionate about helping Canadian companies grow their business.”

2. Outline “what” you do at a high-level. You can use your tag line or mantra.

“We drive revenue for growing organizations. Our services include part-time sales, marketing and social media assistance”

3. Provide a list of your benefits – this is the “why” should someone utilize your services.

“We have:

  • A proven track record of success – a few examples include closing $300,000 in incremental revenue for a web based software company working 1.5 days a week; helping a manufacturing vision systems company implement a sales process and roll-out Salesforce.com; increasing a Cleantech companies’ sales funnel by $3,000,000; growing a financial client from 1 customer to over 40 in two years.
  • Over 50 years of experience in technology sales.
  • A cash-flow friendly solution for firms looking to grow their revenues but can’t afford a full time person.
  • Experience in both channel and business to business sales.”

We did an excellent blog around “Quantifying your Business Benefits” that includes helpful tips you can use to better articulate the benefits your organization provides.

4. List your immediate goals – what you want to achieve out of this meeting or presentation. Be specific, outline a timeframe and be realistic. You can always follow the SMART Methodology – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely.

“I would like to understand the effectiveness of your sales & marketing efforts today and identify if VA Partners can be of assistance. How does your schedule look next Tuesday for a face to face meeting to investigate further?”

We would welcome the chance to help you build your “elevator pitch” and go to market.  Feel free to contact me.

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Use Client Feedback to Excel your Sales Efforts

Posted on December 20, 2011

by Stephanie Goodman

Last week I listened in on a webinar hosted by Accretive Advisor with guest speaker Julie Littechild, President of Advisor Impact. Julie address a very common issue among many sales professionals: what we think our clients want is completely different from what they actually want. In order to solve this problem, Julie suggested a pretty straight forward solution – listen to what your customers want!

Listening to your customers, however, is not as easy as it sounds. Here are a few ways you can enhance your customer feedback practices in order to use this information to drive the growth of your business.

  • Receiving referrals is a long term tactic. Do not expect to receive all the information you want about your services with one customer discussion. Instead, ask questions about how the process is going along the way. For example: Are they happy with the strategy you’ve put in place? What would they like to see in terms of a timeline for completing a task/product, etc.? Are there any concerns with the person in charge of said project?
  • Stop putting up barriers. Yes, you must always stay professional in business, but you also need to be personable. Julie stated in the webinar that customers will usually refer someone/company if they are asked and they are usually doing it for friends and/or family. They are not going to recommend your services to a family member if they feel your approach was cold or you were disassociated.
  • Don’t forget about successful clients. Gaining customer feedback should not only come from unsatisfied customers, but should also come from successful partnerships. There is great untapped potential in successful clients so instead of moving on with the satisfaction that your company has helped another, put together a strategy that allows you to gain feedback on their experience as well (ex. Exit survey or informal exit interview).
  • Use referrals to your advantage. Don’t solely use referrals at a networking event when you’re discussing the success of your company, use them on your website, newsletter or as a case study, where they will be noticed! Referrals in the form of stories – i.e. case studies – great way to engage readers and to give them a sense of how your business operates.

If you’re still stuck on ways to receive feedback from your clients, try putting simple questions such as “what did you think?” at the bottom of your newsletter. Ask people to submit remarks on how you could enhance your blogs. Crafting your marketing efforts doesn’t have to come solely from your marketing team; you also want to engage prospects by telling them how you work from someone who has worked with you.

For more information on driving your sales efforts, or to give us feedback on our website, newsletter, (or this blog!), feel free to reach out to me.

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Are You Utilizing Social Media for Sales Prospecting and Lead Generation?

Posted on November 29, 2011

by Stephanie Goodman

One question often asked by many C-level executives and those in the corporate world is “How do I know Social Media is working for my company?” The answer is simple: you have to execute a strategy and then measure that strategy. If you’re still unsure about the value in social media for marketing and sales, take a look at how many of your prospects, clients and competitors are on social media and then re-evaluate your reservations. Two weeks ago I sat in on a webinar from HubSpot that explained how leads are generated through social media. For those who are still unclear about how sales have anything to do with social media, I suggest you take a look at the important arguments I took from the webinar.

Social Media is NOT a buzz word

First and foremost, we must remember that social media is not a buzz word (or term). Although many sceptics still exist, social media is here to stay. How do we know? It’s impact on marketing, business, PR, customer service and basic customer service has expanded so rapidly that people do not use social media as the “last resort” to communicate with others, rather, social media has made its way to top of mind for many businesses.

What is a lead?

A lead is essentially a proxy for sales. Leads are those that show interest in your service/product/company or are people who you have a connection with and believe will have an interest in your service/product/company. A lead is the first step to a sale. By using social media, leads are being generated in a different way than they were with traditional marketing. Lead generation is now about the transaction of information. A company is sharing information that will hopefully entice a prospect enough that they respond to it; prospects can respond by Re-Tweeting, sharing your information or commenting on it. One thing to keep in mind is that you cannot predict how people are going to find you. What you need to focus on is giving them plenty of ways to find you. In saying this, social media marketing is not linear nor should companies treat it this way.

How do I turn a lead into a sale?

Measure, measure, measure. Use a social media monitoring tool to track who is looking at your information, how long they are staying and what they are saying (if they are saying anything at all) about it. Here is an example:

If your company posts whitepapers on their website, share it – via social media – with others. Take a look at your Google Analytics and see who is coming into your website and what they are looking at. The next thing you need to do is start researching. Research the company, their service, goals, employees, etc. and match them with the services you provide to see if you may be able to help them. You already have an introduction to the conversation with them: I saw you downloaded/shared our whitepaper…

The ultimate goal is to get people to your website; the more content you create, the greater your chance of website visits. Are you still on the fence about the quality of leads through social media? Think about it this way, the prospect that clicked on your link or shared your information is already interested in what you do and can provide. Once the interest is there, the hard part is over.

For more information on how Social Media can help enhance your Sales efforts, take a look at our Sales Prospecting with Social Media and feel free to send any further questions you may have.

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Grassroots events support the Startup Community in Ontario

Posted on October 13, 2011

by Mark Elliott

This past weekend I was up in my hometown of Elmvale for Thanksgiving and the annual Fall Fair.  Elmvale is a small town of just under 2,000 people and has a real sense of community.  This got me thinking about the startup tech community through-out Ontario.  I don’t think it has ever been a better time to be a startup in terms of the community and support that is available from a number of sources.  This will be a 2 part blog featuring the Grass Roots support and Government funded support.  Here are the some of the Grassroots options that are available.  I don’t think that one is better than the other, seeing as they provide different things to the community.

Democamp

The Democamp formula is fairly consistent, featuring a guest speaker with startup experience, a number of startups presenting their solution, the crowd asking questions, and lots of networking. In Ontario there are regular Demopcamps in Windsor, Guelph, Toronto, Ottawa, and Hamilton.  The grandfather of Democamp and Toronto Organizer David Crow spoke recently at the Democamp Hamilton.  His talk was about community and supporting growing companies.  This event was promoted by the Innovation Factory, a new government funded hub based in Hamilton; Innovation Factory had several of the team members out as well.  The event took place at McMaster, showing a level of commitment from the school and bringing out some students. Kevin Browne and Jim Rudnick are organizers and involved with many of the startup events in Hamilton. 

I also wanted to highlight Democamp Guelph and one of it’s organizers Brydon Gilliss.  I really enjoy the event as it reminds me of the earlier Democamp Toronto events.  Democamp Guelph gets between 100 and 200 people and takes place in a bar.  It is a lively affair with many local more established tech companies sponsoring and often looking for employees at the event.

Democamps are great for startups to demo their solution and get feedback.  It is also an excellent opportunity to network and meet other startups.

Startup Drinks

Startup Drinks occur in many communities across Ontario.  Be warned not all the chapters update their events on the site.  The best way to get updates on the events is to follow one of the organizers on Twitter.  Hamilton will be having their 1st event tonight, the Waterloo team is fairly consistent, and the Toronto Group goes the last Wednesday of the Month.  I have been to the Toronto event many times and really enjoy it.  There is a good mix of companies just starting up, established tech companies, service providers, investors, people with an idea for a company, and a few people that are looking to join a startup.  One of the people I met a few months ago was Heather Payne.  She was interested in joining a startup from a more established job and was able to join a company and had her tips on how she did so in the Globe and Mail.

Regional organizations

The VA Partners team have attended and been involved with a couple other Grassroots organizations that are more regionally based.  the Golden Horseshoe Venture Forum has been around for over 10 years and connects startups, professional service organizations, and investors.  They have events 5 times a year.

Another great regional Grassroots organization is Silicon Halton.  They organize monthly events with featured speakers and networking.  They have also branched out to provide some really interesting Peer2Peer groups including one for solo entreprenuers.  If you are in the Halton region and have a startup I would connect with Silicon Halton and its two main organizers  Rick Stomphorst and Chris Herbert.

Even more events

There are many other startup focused events that are available in major Ontario centres including ecommerce camp, Cloudcamp, Lean Coffee Toronto, and many more.

If you are a startup or thinking about creating one I recommend you go to one of the events.  They are a great source of support, information, and connections.  We try to highlight some of the upcoming events on our blog at the beginning of each month you can also check out the Techvibes events and the events at Startup North.

On Tuesday I will feature some of the Government supported initiatives that can help startups.

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Putting the “Fun” into your B2B Sales Funnel

Posted on October 4, 2011

by Mark Elliott

Some might think the title may be link baiting, but if you are an entrepreneur and you have a healthy and accurate funnel it is significantly more fun than not having one at all.  I am always amazed that many growing companies do not have processes in place for their funnel.  Here are some suggestions on how to have a better more predictable funnel.

Use a CRM:  This is an excellent place to have the information in a central location.  Activities, contacts, and notes can all be associated with an opportunity.  There are many affordable and even a few free options that are available.  We recently wrote a blog that highlighted reasons startups should get a CRM system in place.

Funnel Reviews: Regular and consistent funnel reviews is an important aspect of having more predictable sales.  This applies if you are a 2 person company or a company with a large sales team.  I would recommend monthly or bi-weekly.

Assign funnel % by stage: I often see funnel % based on a sales reps gut feel on an opportunity.  This can lead to huge variations from reps and even opportunities.  Breaking down the funnel by sales stage and assigning a % will help make it more real.  You can tweak the % over time as you get a better sense of your close rates.  We recommend phases of Prospecting, Qualifying, Proposing, Closing, Closed Lost, and Roll-out.  Last year we wrote a series on the funnel stages.

Understand your sales cycle: One thing that affects both large and small organizations is forecasting opportunities closing faster than they actually do.  It is important to understand how long the steps take to complete.

Inspect what you expect: Don’t be afraid to go on sales meeting with your team.  The goal is not necessarily to close every opportunity with the sales team if you are the owner or sales manager as that is not a sustainable or productive strategy longer term.  It is good, especially with large opportunities, to be involved in order to provide some support and feedback to the sales team.

These tips should help make it easier to have a more productive funnel.  If you have any questions please contact me and I will try and help put the “Fun” in your Funnel.

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