New Venture Lab: Equipping Christian Entrepreneurs

I recently received an email from a couple of young entrepreneurs that I am mentoring that were a bit downcast.  They had given their best pitch to a prospective client, but it fell flat and they did not get the business.

Here are a few tips that I shared with them on how to think of the sales process as a pipeline (for more on this, see the of our and see this blog post explaining the process in more detail):

• As in any pipeline, the more you dump into the opening of the funnel, the more will come out the other end, but you will have friction, velocity and flow rate issues
• Sales is a bit of a numbers game and just like Babe Ruth, you will have a lot of strike-outs, but you've got to keep swinging for the fences, knowing that the big win is just around the corner
• Be sure to qualify a Suspect completely prior to investing the time to pitch them, since they may just be using you to get information or to get a competitive quote.  Qualify them by asking questions such as:
• • Do you already have a provider relationship?
  • Do you already have a plan for ____________? (for whatever requires the type of offering you sell)
  • Have you already decided to move forward with __________?
  • Has your budget for this project already been approved?
  • Who will be the decision maker for approving this project?
  • Do you have a timeline or deadline for getting started on the project?
  • What are your overall goals for this project? (growth, cost cutting, new product launch, etc.)
• Track each meeting and proposal and measure the progress of your pipeline at every stage
• In the early days of launchign your company and selling, think of a failed sales call or proposal as learning or R&D; with each additional sales call, you will learn more and be able to refine your pitch
• Listen carefully and watch for non-verbal feedback
• Don't be disheartened, but just keep on pitching (babies fall down thousands of times learning to walk, we need to exhibit the same level of perseverance to get a company off the ground)