Sales Is More Than Just Sales For Startups

sales for startupsOur business is built on doing sales for startups.  One of the most challenging aspects of working in this environment and at the same time one of the most rewarding is that most times our role is simply not just sales.  We find ourselves wearing many hats and providing input to a variety of other corporate areas including finance, M&A, operations, logistics and administration.

Like in any firm, sales cannot happen successfully in a vacuum, there are many components to any sale all equally important in many cases.  This could include, being able to finance the build of a product for a customer, delivering the product or service on-time and on-budget, responding promptly to customer service challenges in the event of a product breakdown and so forth. 

In large firms, there are a number of people involved whose jobs all these areas oversee.  In a start-up though, there is no where the near the level of support (most times due to cash flow constraints) and in many cases everyone involved in the company wears many hats throughout the day to get the job done and the sale fulfilled.  We have seen time and time again sales growth being the driver of organizational change from an operations, logistics and finance standpoint.

As an example, we have a client that specializes in financing assets and maximizing a client’s asset utilization.  In this case, the business was originally confined to a limited geographic scope – say no more than 50-60 kilometres from base.  As we began to develop their sales and win business outside of this range, in some cases over 1,000 km away, their model both operationally and logistically had to change drastically to manage this growth successfully.  We were required to step in, offer suggestions and help with that in any way we could.   Our client is successfully managing this growth thanks to a great team and the ability to make strategic decisions quickly and efficiently.   In this case, there are a number of initiatives that are being driven out of the sales efforts including:  streamlining operations, incorporating new logistically processes, developing HR team building and bench deepening exercises to allow the business to continue to scale, exploration of new geographic offices and so forth.

In the end, any sales role has an influence and impact on an organization.  It is just that in a start-up, the impact is greater and requires the ability and willingness to manage a variety of corporate functions to see the successful close and roll-out of business.   So, for anyone looking to work in sales in a start-up, be prepared to not only sell, but work on developing the internal processes and functions across a variety of business areas to make the firm successful.  This is what makes working in sales for a start-up exciting and equally as challenging.

If you are looking for some part-time sales assistance from a firm that understands the nuances of the start-up environment, please feel free to review our Sales offerings at.

Sales Is More Than Just Sales For Startups