Posts in Start-up
Ultimate Success Requires Alignment Between Product and Sales

Sales-led growth and product-led growth are distinct strategies, each with its own set of priorities and approaches. And successful growth strategies always require an alignment between sales and product. And that also means aligning the investment.

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A Blast from the Past: The Commission-Only Sales Rep

A salesperson not accepting a commission-only sales role does not mean that they aren’t “hungry and motivated” or “they don’t believe in themselves.” It means they are smart.

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What is "Senior Sales Leadership" for a Startup?

When it comes to hiring a senior sales leader, there are two main types of candidates to consider: those with big company experience and those with entrepreneurial experience. Each has its pros and cons, and the decision criteria for choosing the right candidate for your business will depend on several factors. 

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Turning Great Mousetraps Into Revenue

Every company on the planet is the same in their two most fundamental processes: making stuff and selling stuff.  All other processes should be in support of these two facets of the raison d'être of a company. The corner bakery and the world's largest industrial conglomerates are the same at this level. 

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The Peter Principle: Why Promotions Can Lead to Failure

The Peter Principle is a real phenomenon that can have negative effects on businesses if not addressed properly. Employers should be careful when promoting employees, ensuring that they are prepared for their new role and monitoring their performance closely.

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Leveraging Go-To-Market to Achieve Organizational Alignment

Raise your hand if you’ve heard about the early-stage CEO/Founder who listed their #1 concern about reaching scale was boiled down to simply “getting my marketing and sales teams aligned”.

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Standing on Top of a Mountain and Calling a Taxi

But there are no shortcuts in sales. What produces success in sales is: Working hard and smart. Following a process. Using data. Being persistent. Win fast, lose faster. Multiple channels. A lot of blocking and tackling.

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How SaaS Companies Can Embrace Evangelist-Led Growth

By embracing evangelist-led growth. This strategy develops and leverages the enthusiasm and advocacy of a company's most passionate users to eventually drive new customer acquisition. These "evangelists" are customers who are highly satisfied with a company's product or service and are willing to recommend it to others.

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The Perils of the People Business

When Founders, Owners, or CEOs comment that their Fractional Executive did not work out, when they complain equally about hiring and firing salespeople because they didn’t perform, or when the average tenure of their first full-time sales leader is somewhere between 12 and 18 months, it often goes back to not selecting the perfect match.

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Avoid Expensive Trial-and-Error

Building and running sales processes and teams without experience is an expensive trial-and-error scenario! Can it be done? Sure, it has been done this way many times. Should it be done? In my opinion, no. Because…

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