Andrew Schmitz’s Post

Try to change my mind…#Sales is the most important competency that a startup needs in order to be successful. But a lot of #founders are not sales experts. They learn sales as they go --> that was me when I started Proceed.app. A challenge that so many startups have is a long and unpredictable sales cycle. Perfecting your sales process is certainly an art and a science. Here’s one trick I found to be extremely helpful: >> before wrapping a meeting, lock in the next step and timeline << “I know you probably need to talk to your team. Why don’t we schedule a time to touch base in case there are any questions they bring up. Does the same time in two weeks work for you?” ”The best way to know for sure that this is a good fit is to try it out for two weeks. I’ll send you a demo unit to try with your colleagues and then we can touch base and look at your actual data. What’s the shipping address?” By getting them on your timeline, you suddenly have way more control over the process. With that comes predictability and shorter sales cycles. It may feel a little uncomfortable at first, but if you are genuinely trying to help they will appreciate it.