{"id":20435,"date":"2022-01-03T11:51:51","date_gmt":"2022-01-03T19:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/?p=20435"},"modified":"2022-03-01T13:26:49","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T21:26:49","slug":"startup-sales-acceleration-with-james-watson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundersnetwork.com\/startup-sales-acceleration-with-james-watson\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Sales Acceleration with James Watson"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to recent <\/span>reports<\/span><\/a>, top tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft spend anywhere between 6-22 percent of their revenue on sales and marketing.\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

However, while this might be adequate for some of the top names in tech, sales acceleration expert <\/span>James Watson<\/span><\/a> says early stage <\/span>startups<\/span><\/a> should be spending far more on sales and marketing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is they focus very little on sales and marketing,\u201d Watson says. \u201cFifty percent of your funding should be going into product development and dev ops. Fifty percent should be going into sales and marketing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson specializes in helping businesses and startups <\/span>build and scale sales processes and profits<\/span><\/a>. He says establishing an effective sales and marketing strategy is key to sales acceleration and securing a second round of funding when the time comes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest mistakes startups make is they have a great idea. They sell someone on the idea. They get money for it and then they can\u2019t cash the check,\u201d Watson says. \u201cEight months down the line, they don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to hit their sales goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where a lot of companies stall or fail. They get their first round based on a unique idea. The CEO is charismatic and they have a patent on some great technology. That works for a while. But when that runs out, you need a sales foundation that gives you predictable and repeatable processes. That\u2019s critical. That\u2019s what investors want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are Watson\u2019s top three tips for sales acceleration in 2022.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOne of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is they focus very little on sales and marketing. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

Refine your value prop<\/span><\/h3>\n

While it might seem like a no-brainer, Watson says establishing a unique value proposition is critical to success. No matter what stage of the game you\u2019re at, having a refined value prop can be the defining factor in closing your next deal or securing an investment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be unique and it needs to be something that improves the lives of others,\u201d Watson says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about making money.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Watson says your value proposition should also include your \u201cwhy story\u201d–what motivated you to do what you\u2019re doing and how you got here. Once you have a refined value proposition, it should then be customized for different audiences including social situations, elevator pitches and investor meetings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing you really have to do is establish your company\u2019s value propositions and come up with different levels of pitches that are appropriate for different situations,\u201d Watson says. \u201cSometimes you\u2019ll get a minute and sometimes you\u2019ll get ten seconds. So it\u2019s important\u00a0 to have all of those things in place.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe first thing you really have to do is establish your company\u2019s value propositions and come up with different levels of pitches that are appropriate for different situations. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

The value of CRM<\/span><\/h3>\n

Watson says having an effective client relationship management system is key to achieving your <\/span>sales<\/span><\/a> objectives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s critical to have a CRM in place that is simple to use and allows you to measure results and establish the KPIs and metrics needed for each sales person,\u201d Watson says.<\/span><\/p>\n

CRM analytics can help companies identify important metrics like the ratio of calls to meetings, ratio of meetings to deals, average deal size, and the time it takes to close. Having this information allows companies to establish quotas and determine how many sales people to hire to achieve sales objectives.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are your sales objectives?\u201d Watson says. \u201cStart with the end in mind and then reverse engineer back based on those metrics to uncover what is a reasonable quota and how many people you are going to need in place to hit your target.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nOftentimes startups don\u2019t have the sales processes in place and founders can\u2019t execute the plan because they\u2019re not sales people. <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n

Establishing a foundation<\/span><\/h3>\n

Sales acceleration<\/span> starts with establishing the right sales foundation<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need a foundation,\u201d Watson says. \u201cYou have to come up with a sales playbook, hire the right people, and onboard those people, which is a process. That\u2019s the biggest challenge a lot of these founders face.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the importance of establishing a sales foundation, Watson says founders aren\u2019t always equipped to manage this task because they lack the sales background necessary for managing sales processes. Instead of taking on sales management themselves, Watson says founders should spend their resources hiring the right people to drive the sales process.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOftentimes startups don\u2019t have the sales processes in place and founders can\u2019t execute the plan because they\u2019re not sales people,\u201d Watson says. \u201cThey\u2019re going to run into a brick wall inevitably and a lot of them won\u2019t get their next round of funding, which is why you have 90 percent of businesses failing.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to learn more? Tune in to Fire-Up Connect’s new <\/span>radio show<\/span><\/a> on Jan. 15, 2022 where Watson will discuss the fundamentals of scaling sales processes. Additionally, on Jan. 13, 2022, Watson will be hosting a joint <\/span>webinar<\/span><\/a> with LTS Accelerator called \u201cAll About Startups.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to recent reports, top tech companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft spend anywhere between 6-22 percent of their revenue on sales and marketing.\u00a0 However, while this might be adequate … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":20573,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[1683,7727],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-20435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-startup-advice","tag-growth","tag-tech-startup-advice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStartup sales acceleration with James Watson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"James Watson specializes in helping businesses and startups build and scale sales processes and profits. 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