EarlyRevenue

04/29/2025

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas from the Grispon's!

07/26/2023

In founder-led sales, you'll need to avoid these 6 fatal enterprise selling errors.

These traps can cost you time and resources. 👇

1. No lengthy description of what you do😲

Instead: simple, clear messaging like "we help X with Y"

2. Don't be single-threaded😲

Instead: decisions are made via team consensus so get to know the entire decision team

3. Don't target everyone😲

Instead: focus your message on a specific audience or you'll get lost in the noise

4. Don't skimp on discovery😲

Instead: a proper diagnosis to understand pain and their impacts help identify a real opportunity and avoid a poor fit.

Multiple disco calls may be necessary with multiple stakeholders.

5. Avoid a complete product demo😲

Instead: only demo the capabilities that address the top 2-3 pain points

6. Don't start a sales pitch talking about you😲

Instead: begin a sales presentation talking about your prospect and their top challenges.

Use these to attract the right prospects, generate interest, and accelerate the sales cycle.🙂

What would you add to this list?

Resources to help:

Josh Braun: prospecting and sales conversation expert
Peter Kazanjy sales narrative structure for sales presentations

💪

07/24/2023

What's the best explanation for sellers getting ghosted after a product demonstration?

Most tech founders & sellers are excited to show off their cool new product, right?

The demo or pitch is where you think you'll shine.

Often it's your perceived source of strength and pride.

It's also where most stumble and miss out on so many chances to advance.

Think about it--how many times is a demo or slide deck followed by silence or a lack of a next step?

In Enterprise selling, I've seen it happen far too many times.

It made me dig in.

Here's a list of best practices I've collected from advising and coaching revenue teams:

💣 Problem: 60-90 minute demos/slides.

Your audience asked for a demo. Learn about your audience before you respond.

That product demo script or company presentation was created by someone that is not likely customer facing.

✅ Best practice: 15-20 minutes focused on the 2-3 key features that solve priority problems you identified in discovery.

A harsh truth: No busy decision maker wants to see the full demo or listen to your complete deck.

Sure, you have other cool features they might like.

Save it.

"How will they see the full value of what we have?"

Uniquely solving their 2-3 biggest pain points is value to your prospect.

for a full demo, Send a link of the full demo recording so those that desire it can watch asynchronously.

You're demonstrating that you value their time.

💣Problem: Demo the feature, explain the benefit.

✅Best Practice: For each feature, have a story prepared, using a like sized customer achieving impact today.

💣Problem: Low engagement, silence after showing the feature/capability

✅Best Practice: Engage! Ask if the prospect can see themselves using this capability. Ask how they would benefit and how it's different from they way they do things today.

💣Problem: You are doing, they are watching.

✅Best Practice: Allow the customer to drive. Give screen control to your audience and walk them through a key capability so they get early hands-on experience.

Tip: Ask "Who else would this impact? What would their reaction be?"

07/19/2023

Are your enterprise sellers regularly gaining access to that desired key executive?

Follow this simple, 3 step approach.
Simple but not so easy.
Before, During, After.

BEFORE meeting
✔Get sponsored by your Champion to lock in the meeting
✔Strategize with Champion and others on your meeting goal
✔Speak with direct reports and others in the industry that know them
✔Treat their executive admin like a Director (they can help or block you)
✔Plan your agenda....but also have a plan B.
✔Have visuals/summaries prepared
✔Ask for no more than 20-30 minutes
✔Practice

DURING meeting
✔If you have a super relevant comment that would peak their non-work interests, use it...otherwise get to the point.
✔Confirm agenda/time, & state the meeting objective.
✔Goal: demonstrate impact, your value, a new resource to meet goals
✔Share your findings from research & work with their team
✔Ask only a couple high level questions that could impact their key metrics.
✔Share how you've uncovered areas where they are weak/exposed, & how you uniquely solve.
✔Share a short, relevant customer story (same industry, size, problem)
✔If there is a decision to be made and they are the exec sponsor, ask who they rely on for info
✔Stick to your agenda and time.
✔Make it a goal to end the meeting early...being efficient with an exec's time is one of the fastest ways to getting back on their schedule.

Pro tips:
-If they are more than 10 mins late, better to reschedule. Don't rush a first meeting.
-Be prepared to have others (friends or unfriendly) join the meeting.
-Don't ask situation, problem/pain questions (do this at lower levels)
-Don't ask for another meeting

AFTER meeting
✔Thank you not to admin; separate note to exec with summary
✔Summarize in CRM
✔Turnaround any request/question asap
✔Use meeting to level-up conversations with others
✔If meeting went well work with admin to schedule next quarter's meeting.

What would you add?

07/18/2023

Congrats, you've finally booked a meeting with that key executive!

Yesterday I talked about being a great opener by asking great discovery questions.

There's discovery and then there's executive discovery.

Those super-important questions only an exec can answer for you.

The answers round off all of the previous conversations and provide key insight for how to approach the rest of your journey with this prospect.

But you can't approach it like other conversations.

Great discovery happens at the lower levels of an org.

Front line personnel are likely to be a major user of your product or service so you'll get the most detail from them.

Use this data to form an opinion as you prepare for the exec call.

You'll find gaps and insights.

Take time to narrow down your questions to 2-3 key questions MAX.

Mark Kosoglow had a great post on exec conversations a while back supporting a similar approach.

Gong has data that validates this.

Shows that most ask too many questions.

And--the more questions, the shorter the response.

Which means your exec is becoming less engaged and beginning to tune you out.

So have a plan and keep it short.

Your mission:
✅ Demonstrate value by dropping key data on opps or threats that may be hiding that are undetected by the exec's team

✅ Demonstrate you know your way around the team and understand their problems. "I was talking with Mike in Ops about the cloud consolidation effort...."

✅ Share a glimpse of what peers are doing and how you could create similar impact.

✅ Do all of this in under 30 mins

✅ Be so valuable they'll agree to meet with you again next quarter

This almost guarantees the exec will remain engaged.

Become a valuable resource they can rely on for an opinion and not waste valuable time.

Also keep in mind that smart execs have an external team of partners they rely on for opinions.

Get on that list by being indispensable.

Exec discovery for the win.

Any tips you'd add?

You got this.
💪

07/17/2023

What if I told you being a great closer is about being a great opener?

Being a great closer isn't what you think, especially in enterprise sales.

Great closers are great openers.

They are great listeners.

Like most, they ask important early questions to learn about the current situation.

Like most, they ask questions about problems and try to understand the current pain.

Most stop here.

But you haven't gone far enough.

You have to dig deeper.

If you're not asking these kinds of questions below, you're likely missing opportunities.

Ask questions that help to reveal how the problem impacts the company.

Also ask about how the problem impacts them individually. Ask this 1-1 to each decision team member.

Try to probe for a root cause, this helps to reveal how large of a problem they really have, and thanks to you they are realizing this.

Layer on question about future events that are critical to them or the company.

Understanding critical events helps to create urgency.

Done properly, you take the prospect from a nice to have, to a must have.

In the process, you've positioned yourself as a helpful guide.

Moving you toward being trusted.

There's more on this topic...stay tuned.

I say we don't need closers.

We need openers!
💪

07/15/2023

There's nothing more comforting than knowing a group of peers have your back.

Especially true for the high-risk roles of startup founder and sales leader.

Since I've worn both hats several times, these days I'm compelled to share and give back to both.

To share my experience, learning, and ups and downs.

In the hope that it helps others avoid speed bumps and enjoy the success sooner and longer.😉

It's even more gratifying to know an entire team of people stand behind you day-to-day. 👍

It's the importance of community and a common goal.💪

I'm a proud member of Pavilion. a global community of operators and sales leaders from around the world. Startups, scale ups, and grown ups.

No better place to share, learn, debate, grow, and make a few new friends.

I'm also co-dean of Enterprise GTM School along with Alex Katzman

3 times a year we have 10 experts share an important facet of Enterprise selling to another large group of learners that earn certification.

It's gratifying.

All this thanks to the original company design by Sam Jacobs.

If you're a CEO, founder, or in sales, I recommend checking us out.

Co-Chair Alex Katzman and I are constantly working on new ways to further accelerate enterprise sales leadership for the group.

Be a part of something.

Check it out.😉

07/13/2023

Let's net out one of the biggest myths in sales about being liked.

In "The Challenger Sale" you learn the sales experience itself has a significant impact on a winning a complex sale.

In Keenan .'s book "Gap Selling", you learn his perspective - you don't have to be liked to win.

A post from Richard Smith a while back sparked a debate on being "liked" during the sales process.

Looks like there's violent agreement.👍

Go for respect.💪

How do you build it?

What's it look like?

Add value with every conversation.

Point out what they overlooked.

Dig deeper, uncover the impact of the surface problems.

Dig to find the root cause.

Reveal a new angle that shows a bigger problem.

Leave a bread-crumb trail leading to new issues or challenges.

Share new data that is relevant.

Push the decision team forward to keep moving to meet a critical event.

Provide the facts, not inflated claims.

Share customer stories similar to their situation.

Give them a couple options

Reduce the risk of making the decision by understanding concerns--perhaps by starting smaller than you'd like.

Thinking 2 steps ahead.

Guiding the way- you've been down this road before.

Don't take credit, it was their idea.

Nothing about guarantees or huge outcomes...and certainly not wining and dining, ballgames, golf, etc.

Do your job by helping them.

Make them better.

Make that your focus and watch the magic happen.

That other stuff is fluff (icing)

Be the cake.😉

Build respect via the value and impact you provide.👌

Agree?

07/12/2023

What's the best approach for executing pilots during an enterprise sale?

Most start off on the wrong foot.

It's an opportunity to prove your value.

First things first:

Is this a bake-off with another vendor also doing a pilot with them?

Careful! Avoid these as chances of success are significantly reduced as you are not completely aligned with your prospect and are likely in a political battle or feature war.

Also potential you are being used as "column fodder" where they are just using you to get a better price out of the other vendor.

A pilot works only If you are aligned and there are clear business reasons for them to investigate your product alone.

A pilot can be fantastic or it can be a big waste of limited time and energy.

With enterprise accounts it's important that you set expectations early.💪

Just because you're a startup doesn't mean they can take advantage of you

Demonstrate your expertise by laying out the ground rules.

Fees:
The amount doesn't matter as much as you are establishing your value.✔
I'm not talking about a PLG approach where its super easy to install by an end user. This is a bigger lift.
A few options are...
-Do it for free, no agreement.
-Small fixed fee for fixed pilot duration
-Free, but if they buy the fee for pilot gets baked into purchase or no discount on purchase.

Have a policy on a fee and understand that if you bend, you won't be on equal ground for the rest of the relationship.😕

✅Duration:
It can't go on forever, so identify a fixed amount of time and resource for it on both sides.

✅Required resources:
If a prospect wants to pilot, it has to be a mutual investment.

You will invest nearly the same amount of effort to setup, train, integrate, install, onboard, paperwork etc. as you would with a normal paid deployment.

✅Specific evaluation criteria:
Mutually design this criteria and the key features/capabilities to test

✅Update cadence:
Plan out a calendar of technical and business updates along with a final report and feedback exchange. They key is communication.

Follow for more pro tips

07/06/2023

How to double revenues in 12 months without increasing leads or team?

The board wants to see revenue growth, even in tough times.

If you want to be considered for investment in the early stages you'll likely have to double revenues.

As a founder or early sales leader you're under time pressure to make it happen.😯

It's not just about more leads.

There are key moments in every sales pipeline that we'll need to measure and analyze.

These key moments advance a prospect through your pipeline towards winning the deal and going live with your product.

WARNING: Math ahead.😊

Learning this math will change the way you look at sales and customer success.

Here's an enterprise sales example:

Ideal customer account names on your list: 500

Going from a name on a list to a lead by downloading an ebook (MQL) = Conversion rate 1 (CR1)
CR1 = 30%
500 x 30% = 150 prospects converted

Going from a lead to a qualified lead via call with seller (SQL) = Conversion Rate 2 (CR2)
CR2 = 25%
150 x 25% = 37.5 converted

Going from qualified lead (SQL) to an opportunity via discovery call and demo = Conversion Rate 3 (CR3)
CR3 = 90%
37.5 x 90% = 33.75 converted

Going from opportunity to win via successful pilot, contracting, and agreement signed = Conversion Rate 4 (also called win rate)
CR4 = 20%
33.75 x 20% = 6.75 wins

Base Annual fee: $100,000
Average discount: 15% (or 85% of price)
6.75 x 85% = 5.73 wins

This equals: $573,750 of Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) from ~6 accounts.

Most think to double revenues you have to double the number of leads and/or double the number of sales people.

That is linear math.

Today's sales math is actually *exponential*.

Instead, if you make slight improvements in each area of 10%:

1.1 x CR1 = 33%

1.1 x CR2 = 27.5%

1.1 x CR3 = 99%

1.1 x CR4 = 22%

1.1 x DISCOUNT = 93.5%

500 leads x 33% x 27.5% x 99% x 22% x 93.5% = 9.24 x $100,000
=$924K of ARR from 9+ account wins

$574K vs. $924K

161% increase with incremental improvements in a few areas.

No additional hires, no additional leads.

This is part of the science of selling.

1.1^5 = 1.61

Credit to Winning by Design and Jacco van der Kooij.
Message me to learn more.