This presentation was delivered to a group of 40 Founders/CEO's and a few salespeople who want to know what they should be thinking about before they hire salespeople. Broad address of the prevailing thought processes, techniques and methodologies for early adopter sales.

1. Kelley Boyd @msksboyd VPS @
A Startup
Perspective on Sales
Think Experience @thnkexp #thnkexp

2. Agenda
• Who is here?
• Founders (CEO/CTO/Salespeople?)
• Why are you here???
• What to look for and when?
• What to expect?
• What are your responsibilities to the business?

4. About Me
• EE: Entrepreneur since Elementary School
• Sold Cars and Produce
• DJ / BlackJack / Yacht Steward
• Got my first “High Tech” Job by calling
companies in the Yellow Pages
• Won National recognition selling Group
4/ ISDN Fax Machines

5. #WINNING
High Tech Startups you could Google
• Network Resources = Evernet Systems
• ODS = Enron and Cisco deals won (Lost Exxon)
• DEC = Cabletron (Sold a big ass switch to IBM)
• Raptor = IPO / Axent/Symantec (Lucent Global)
• WheelGroup = Booked deals for 1M in 120 days
• F5Labs = IPO (Wal-Mart >6 months)

6. #GNARLY
StartUps you REALLY never heard of
• Netropolis - ISP (HTML)
• Road Scholar - GPS
• PayPerClick - MMYHP
• Really Easy Internet - VOIP
• Enregle - Secure Email
• Digital Lifestyles, Inc. - Residential Infrastructure

7. Referenced
• Geoffery Moore - Crossing the Chasm
• Steve Blank - Four Steps to the Epiphany
• Charles Hudson - Don’t let BD tank your
startup (Slideshare)

8. Definition of Terms
What is a Market?
• A set of potential or actual customers
• For a given set of products or services
• Who have a common set of needs or
wants (even if they don’t know it yet)
• Who reference each other when
making buying decisions

9. Definition of Terms
What makes a “high tech” business
• Adheres to Technology Adoption Life Cycle
• Innovators
• Early Adopters: Disruptive
• #CHASM: Establish Market Share
• Early Majority: Pragmatists
• Late Majority
• Laggards

10. Before Web 2.0
Key Strategy: Niche Marketing
• “We do not have time - or we cannot afford to -
implement it now”
• This creates a Sales driven rather than Market
driven company
• How bad can this be? Disastrous
• Things will work out? Not always
• Our customers (early adopters) will lead us to
the market. Never in a million years #CHASM

11. 2011 Early Stage
• Today’s environment it is very easy to
ideate and build a product
• Not very conducive to understanding
what has to happen to turn a product
into a business

12. 2011 Founders
• Idea
• Product
• Customer Development (WTH??)
• + Product + Cust Dev + Product =
• Product Market Fit: Market driven
• Begin to form the Business

13. Customer Creation
Early Stage “Marketing” but different
• Market Type: Figure it out
• Existing / Resegmented / Niche / New
• Establish “year one objectives”
• Positioning (Company and Product)
• Launch (Company and Product)
• Demand Creation (Ad, PR, Shows/Conferences)

14. Sales Talk
• Customer and Deal Evolution
• Suspect / Prospect / Champion / Proposal / Close /
Implement /
• That seems easy so where (and why) can it go wrong?
• Early Evaluators / Scalable Customers / Mainstream
Customers
• Used to say the best technology did not win, the best
marketing did
• I think now the best customer service is the key
differentiator (the rise of the community manager)

15. Sales - People
There are Sales Managers
• They serve a purpose to train, groom and coach
• Their highest responsibility is to remove
barriers to success for sales
There are Sales People
• Are like Waiters
• Are like Thoroughbreds
• Are like Football Players

16. First Sales Hire
EAM Sales - More strategic than tactical
• Prepare to report and review activities to date
toward finding the right target/model/price
• Document activities and establish mechanics of
a deal that can be deployed to a select number
of customers and / or partners with a similar
structure
• This will need to be done several times
targeting different strata of customers

17. First Sales Hire
EAM Sales - More strategic than tactical
• PERFORMANCE: It is impossible to establish
revenue performance or a reliable compensation plan
goals if you don’t know how your product will be
sold, how much it will sell for or who will sell it.
• The KEY Deal: Reference Customer
• Word of Mouth
• The VOLUME Deal: Partner Deal
• Establishes Market Leadership

18. Sales Operations
Do not underestimate!!! If you think you don’t have time
to create a framework to communicate, how will you
know what you want to know, when you want to know
it?
• Get around the table and get on the same page
about expectations for communication
• Draft New Strategic AND Tactical plans (expect for
them to change)
• Implement a mechanism for tracking progress /
changes to what you know

19. Business Development
Business Development is a very specific function
with (only) two core activities:
• License someone else’s technology or
content for use in your product or service
• Distribute your product or service through
someone else’s network (resellers / channels)
• Business Development is NOT a Chief Revenue
Officer, or a VP Sales, or a salesperson.

20. The Art of BD Deal
Become a trusted advisor - Listening is the key
• Make sure you have rational performance expectations
from any deal you do
• Get performance comps from past deals
• Get success metrics in writing
• People and priorities can change
• If they won’t commit in writing, there’s a reason
• ALWAYS ask if anything has changed since you last met

21. Early Adopters
First they ignore you
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight with you,
and then...You #WIN
~Ghandi

22. How do YOU #Win?
When you hire the first Salesperson (the one who
can find a replicable sales and operations model),YOU
are the Sales Manager. If they fail, it is your fault.
• Remove barriers to success
• Become a trusted advisor
• Listening is the key
• Make sure you have rational performance expectations
• Document success metrics
• Ask if anything has changed

23. Kelley Boyd @msksboyd VPS @
Thanks for your
Participation and
Attendance!
Think Experience @thnkexp #thnkexp