How to Get Your First Customers | Startup School

Y Combinator
29 Dec 202222:53

Summary

TLDRLe script d'une présentation met en évidence les étapes essentielles pour une start-up : comprendre l'importance de faire des ventes, apprendre à recruter des clients manuellement, et la nécessité de ne pas évacuer les tâches de ventes in-house. Il souligne que les fondateurs devraient être les premiers à effectuer des ventes, comprendre leurs clients et ainsi améliorer leur produit. Le script insiste également sur la valeur du suivi des conversions et la mise en place d'un CRM simple pour mesurer l'efficacité des ventes et aider à déterminer les taux de conversion. Enfin, il recommande de se concentrer sur les clients les plus susceptibles de s'engager rapidement et de ne pas hésiter à mettre fin aux processus de ventes qui ne conduisent pas à des résultats concrets.

Takeaways

  • 🚀 L'importance de faire des choses qui ne s'évèrent pas à l'heure de démarrer une entreprise.
  • 💡 Les fondateurs doivent être impliqués dans les ventes pour comprendre les besoins des clients et devoirs de l'entreprise.
  • 📈 La courbe de croissance des startups montre que les fondateurs jouent un rôle clé dans le succès de la société.
  • 🛠️ L'apprentissage des compétences en vente est crucial pour avoir un contrôle total sur le destin de l'entreprise.
  • 📧 L'art de l'écriture d'un email de vente efficace est un élément important pour attirer les clients potentiels.
  • 🔄 Le concept de漏斗 de ventes est essentiel pour comprendre et optimiser le processus de conversion des prospects en clients.
  • 🎯 Les premiers clients doivent être les plus faciles à acquérir pour faciliter le processus de ventes.
  • 💸 Le fait de facturer pour le produit est un indicateur fort que vous apportez une vraie valeur à vos clients.
  • 🔄 Il est important de travailler à l'envers à partir de vos objectifs pour comprendre les besoins réels en termes de prospection.
  • 📊 Utiliser un CRM simple pour suivre les taux de conversion et identifier les domaines d'amélioration.
  • 🔗 Les fondateurs doivent apprendre à se concentrer sur les early adopters pour pousser la croissance de l'entreprise.

Q & A

  • Que signifie faire des choses qui ne sont pas à l'échelle et pourquoi cette mentalité est-elle si importante au début de l'entreprise ?

    -Faire des choses qui ne sont pas à l'échelle signifie effectuer des actions manuelles et personnalisées pour attirer et fidéliser des clients, ce qui est essentiel au début d'une entreprise car les startups ne prennent pas automatiquement off les ground. Cette mentalité est importante car elle permet aux fondateurs de comprendre et d'interagir directement avec leurs clients, ajustant ainsi leur offre et leur stratégie en fonction des besoins et des retours des clients.

  • Pourquoi les fondateurs doivent-ils être les premiers à faire des ventes ?

    -Les fondateurs doivent être les premiers à faire des ventes car cela leur permet de comprendre directement les besoins et les problèmes de leurs clients, ce qui est crucial pour construire un produit qui répond à ces besoins. En outre, cela leur donne un contrôle total de leur destinée en tant qu'entreprise, leur permettant de déterminer ce qui fonctionne et ce qui ne le fait pas, et de ainsi ajuster leur stratégie de vente en conséquence.

  • Quelles sont les étapes clés du processus de vente que les fondateurs doivent apprendre ?

    -Les étapes clés du processus de vente incluent la prospection (création de liste de clients potentiels), l'envoi d'emails ou de messages pour prendre contact, la planification et la conduite de démonstrations ou de réunions, les discussions sur les tarifs, la clôture des ventes et l'intégration des nouveaux clients en tant que utilisateurs actifs du produit.

  • Pourquoi est-il important de facturer pour votre produit dès le début ?

    -Facturer pour votre produit dès le début est important car cela prouve que vous apportez une vraie valeur à vos clients. Les clients qui paient sont plus investis dans le succès de votre produit et sont plus susceptibles de fournir des retours précieux et de rester fidèles à votre entreprise. De plus, le fait de facturation permet également de mieux comprendre la valeur perçue de votre produit sur le marché.

  • Comment les fondateurs peuvent-ils identifier et atteindre les clients les plus susceptibles d'être des adopteurs précoces ?

    -Les fondateurs peuvent identifier et atteindre les clients les plus susceptibles d'être des adopteurs précoces en se concentrant sur leur réseau personnel, en utilisant leurs connections avec d'autres startups et en envoyant des emails de vente personnalisés. Ils peuvent également chercher des personnes qui ont déjà montré un intérêt pour les nouvelles technologies et qui sont ouvertes à prendre des risques pour essayer de nouveaux produits.

  • Quels sont les avantages de la vente directe par rapport à l'externalisation des ventes ou à l'utilisation de grandes équipes de vente ?

    -La vente directe permet aux fondateurs de mieux comprendre leurs clients et de personnaliser leur approche de vente. Elle leur donne également un contrôle total de leur entreprise et de leur processus de vente, ce qui leur permet d'ajuster rapidement leur stratégie en fonction des retours des clients. De plus, cela leur évite de dépenser des ressources importantes pour maintenir une grande équipe de vente ou pour externaliser entièrement le processus de vente.

  • Quelle est la différence entre envoyer un email de vente et envoyer un email de qualification de produit ?

    -Un email de vente est un message qui a pour but de convaincre directement le destinataire de devenir un client en lui présentant les avantages et la valeur du produit. Un email de qualification de produit, quant à lui, vise à déterminer si le destinataire est un bon candidat pour utiliser le produit en se concentrant sur ses besoins et ses problèmes spécifiques. L'objectif est de vérifier si le produit correspond aux besoins du client avant de passer à l'étape suivante de la vente.

  • Comment les fondateurs peuvent-ils améliorer leur taux de conversion dans le processus de vente ?

    -Les fondateurs peuvent améliorer leur taux de conversion en traquant attentivement chaque étape de leur funiculaire de vente, en identifiant les points de pertes et en ajustant leur approche en conséquence. Ils peuvent également se concentrer sur les clients les plus susceptibles d'être des adopteurs précoces, en utilisant des techniques de qualification de produit pour cibler les clients les plus pertinents, et en améliorant constamment leur pitch et leur message de vente en fonction des retours des clients.

  • Quels sont les outils que les fondateurs peuvent utiliser pour suivre leur processus de vente et leurs taux de conversion ?

    -Les fondateurs peuvent utiliser des outils de CRM simples tels qu'Apollo.io, Close.com (anciennement Closed.io), Pipedrive ou Hunter.io pour suivre leur processus de vente et leurs taux de conversion. Ces outils leur permettent de suivre leurs emails, leurs appels, leurs démonstrations et de mesurer l'efficacité de leur stratégie de vente.

  • Quelles sont les erreurs les plus courantes commises par les fondateurs en matière de vente ?

    -Les erreurs les plus courantes commises par les fondateurs en matière de vente incluent ne pas faire assez de prospection, croyant que d'autres canaux de croissance (comme le marketing ou les références) résoudront leurs problèmes de vente, externaliser les ventes alors que les fondateurs devraient les effectuer eux-mêmes, et ne pas qualifier adéquatement les clients lors de leur premier appel ou email.

  • Comment les fondateurs peuvent-ils se préparer pour des ventes réussies ?

    -Les fondateurs peuvent se préparer pour des ventes réussies en comprenant les étapes clés du processus de vente, en se concentrant sur la qualification des clients, en utilisant des outils de CRM pour suivre leurs efforts, en améliorant constamment leur pitch en fonction des retours des clients, et en se familiarisant avec les techniques de vente directes et des emails de qualification de produit.

  • Quels sont les canaux de croissance scalables que les startups devraient-elles explorer au-delà des ventes initiales ?

    -Les canaux de croissance scalables que les startups devraient explorer incluent la word-of-mouth (bouche à oreille), les recherches sur Google, les références, la publicité sur Facebook et d'autres plateformes similaires. Cependant, il est important de noter que ces canaux ne sont généralement pas les premiers utilisés pour attirer les premiers clients, mais plutôt des étapes ultérieures une fois que l'entreprise a commencé à croître et à établir une base de clients fidèles.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Démarrage et acquisition de clients pour les startups

Le paragraphe 1 met en évidence la nécessité pour les fondateurs de startups d'acquérir leurs premiers clients en utilisant des méthodes qui ne sont pas à l'échelle, en raison de la fausse croyance que les bons produits se développent en isolement. Il est également question de l'importance de la vente, y compris la stratégie de vente, la nécessité de facturer pour le produit et de travailler à l'envers à partir des objectifs pour la croissance de la startup.

05:00

📈 Exemples de fondateurs qui ont réussi en ventes

Le paragraphe 2 présente des exemples concrets de fondateurs qui ont personnellement pris en charge les ventes et ont appris à les maîtriser, tels que Tony de Doordash, Matilde de Front et Steve Jobs d'Apple. Il est également question de la stratégie utilisée par les fondateurs de Brex pour acquérir leurs premiers clients directement à partir de leur promotion d'Y Combinator, soulignant l'importance de la simplicité du produit minimum viable et de la communication directe avec les clients.

10:02

📧 Écriture d'e-mails de vente efficaces

Dans le paragraphe 3, l'accent est mis sur la manière d'écrire des e-mails de vente efficaces, en soulignant la brièveté, la clarté, l'adressage direct des problèmes des clients potentiels, l'évitement des formats HTML et l'inclusion d'un appel à l'action. On explique également comment structurer un processus de vente, du prospection à la clôture en passant par la démo et l'intégration des clients, tout en soulignant l'importance de l'automatisation et de la traçabilité des conversions à travers un CRM simple.

15:04

💰 Facturation et stratégie de vente pour les startups

Le paragraphe 4 aborde la question de la facturation pour les produits des startups, soulignant que les clients qui paient sont un signe de valeur réelle. Il est recommandé de résister à la tentation d'offrir des essais gratuits ou des pilotes non rémunérés et de plutôt proposer une garantie de remboursement de l'argent. L'importance de la détermination des prix et de la compréhension des clients est également discutée, en soulignant que les clients qui ne sont pas prêts à payer peuvent ne pas être les bons clients pour la startup.

20:05

🎯 Travailler à partir des objectifs et stratégies de vente

Le dernier paragraphe met en évidence la nécessité pour les fondateurs de startups de travailler à partir de leurs objectifs de vente, de comprendre les taux de conversion à chaque étape du funnel de vente et de ne pas se fier à des stratégies de marketing ou de SEO qui ne sont pas adaptées au démarrage. Il est également question de l'importance de l'orientation app à app, de la qualification des clients et de l'utilisation de outils de CRM simples pour suivre les conversions et améliorer les compétences en vente.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Y Combinator

Y Combinator est un programme d'accélération qui soutient les startups en fournissant des ressources, des conseils et des investissements. Dans le script, l'orateur mentionne qu'il est partenaire au sein de Y Combinator et va parler des défis et des stratégies pour les startups.

💡Do things that don't scale

Faire des choses qui ne s'envolent pas est une approche essentielle pour les startups qui consiste à faire des efforts manuels ou individuels pour atteindre des résultats à l'échelle de l'entreprise. Cette méthode est cruciale au début des entreprises car elle permet de comprendre les besoins des clients et d'adapter le produit en conséquence.

💡Sales funnel

Le tunnel de vente est un modèle qui décrit les différentes étapes que les prospects franchissent pour devenir des clients. Il permet aux entreprises de visualiser et d'optimiser leur processus de vente. Dans le script, l'orateur explique comment les fondateurs devraient comprendre et utiliser le tunnel de vente pour attirer et fidéliser leurs clients.

💡Customer feedback

Les retours des clients sont des informations précieuses que les entreprises recueillent auprès de leurs utilisateurs pour améliorer leur produit ou service. Dans le contexte du script, les retours des clients jouent un rôle clé dans l'adaptation et le développement continu du produit en réponse aux besoins et aux préférences des clients.

💡Product-market fit

L'adéquation produit-marché est un point crucial où le produit répond efficacement aux besoins du marché et génére des résultats satisfaisants pour les clients. C'est un état idéal pour une startup où le produit est bien accepté et il y a une demande constante.

💡Outsourcing

L'externalisation (ou outsourcing) est le processus d'engagement d'une autre entreprise ou d'une personne pour effectuer des tâches qui étaient auparavant gérées en interne. Dans le script, l'orateur discute de l'importance de ne pas externaliser les ventes initiales, mais plutôt de les gérer personnellement pour comprendre et améliorer le produit.

💡Early adopters

Les premiers adopteurs sont les individus qui acceptent de faire usage d'un nouveau produit ou service dès son lancement ou ses premières phases de développement. Ils jouent un rôle important dans la diffusion d'un nouveau produit en aidant à établir sa réputation et en fournissant des retours précieux.

💡Charging for the product

Facturer pour le produit est une pratique commerciale qui consiste à demander un paiement pour l'utilisation d'un produit ou d'un service. Dans le script, l'orateur insiste sur l'importance de facturer les clients pour valider la valeur réelle du produit et établir une entreprise viable.

💡Working backwards from goals

Travailler à reculons à partir des objectifs consiste à définir un objectif final et à déterminer les étapes nécessaires pour y parvenir. Dans le contexte du script, cette approche est utilisée pour planifier et suivre les efforts de ventes et améliorer les performances de l'entreprise.

💡Sales CRM software

Les logiciels de CRM (Customer Relationship Management) pour les ventes sont des outils qui aident les entreprises à gérer et suivre les interactions avec les clients et les prospects. Dans le script, l'orateur recommande l'utilisation d'un CRM pour suivre les taux de conversion et améliorer le processus de vente.

💡Qualifying customers

Qualification des clients est le processus d'évaluation des prospects pour déterminer s'ils correspondent aux critères cibles et sont susceptibles de devenir des clients. Dans le script, l'orateur souligne l'importance de qualifier les clients lors de la première conversation pour maximiser l'efficacité des efforts de vente.

Highlights

创业者需要理解早期阶段的公司成功依赖于创始人的努力,而非仅仅依赖于产品本身。

成功的产品往往不是孤立构建的,而是与客户共同开发的。

初创公司需要手动招募客户,而不能仅仅依赖于广告网络。

创始人应该亲自参与销售,以更好地了解客户需求和产品问题。

销售技能是创始人必须掌握的关键技能之一,它直接影响公司的命运。

销售漏斗的概念对于理解客户获取过程至关重要。

创始人应该专注于最容易获取的第一批客户,而不是最难的。

销售过程中,应该避免使用行业术语和 buzzwords,保持语言清晰。

销售电子邮件应该简短,直接,并且用纯文本格式。

销售漏斗的每个步骤都会有流失,因此需要通过CRM软件跟踪转化率。

创始人需要从目标反向工作,以确保销售漏斗的每个阶段都能达到预期的转化率。

向已知的人销售会比向陌生人销售更容易。

销售给初创公司通常比销售给大公司更容易,因为初创公司的决策过程更短。

大多数潜在客户并不是早期采用者,因此需要发送更多的邮件来找到真正的早期采用者。

对于B2B销售,应该避免提供免费试用,而是提供退款保证或选择退出的选项。

创始人常犯的错误包括没有做足够的外联工作,错误地将销售外包,以及没有从目标反向工作。

成功的初创公司,如Airbnb,Stripe和Front,都是通过应用创始人的直接销售电子邮件开始的。

即使最终增长策略依赖于口碑、谷歌搜索或推荐,初创公司也应该从创始人直接销售开始。

Transcripts

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foreign

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[Music]

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School my name is Gustav and I'm a group

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partner here at y combinator today I'm

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going to talk about how to go from

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talking to users

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getting your first customers here's what

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I plan to cover today one what does it

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mean to do things that don't scale and

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why is this mindset so so important at

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this stage of your company two how to do

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sales I'll make the argument the founder

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should be the ones doing sales in the

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beginning then we'll cover some sales

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funnel information and then why is it so

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important to charge for your product and

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finally we'll learn how you work your

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way backwards from your goals and why

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that's important I hope you've read this

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article or this essay the most important

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essay ever written about the very early

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stage of startups is do things that

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don't scale by Paul Graham Paul is the

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co-founder of Y commner he published

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this essay about the early days of

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Airbnb Airbnb is perhaps the best

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example of a successful YC company who

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got their feet off the ground this way

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many Founders who never worked for a

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startup or an early stage company

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incorrectly believe that all you need to

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succeed is a good product and growth

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will take care of itself this is not the

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case the truth is that good product is

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very rarely built in isolation but

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together with your customers and as a

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result it's not actually that good when

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you show it to your first customers set

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this another way

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startups don't take off by themselves

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startup takes off because Founders make

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them take off and you have to manually

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recruit your customers it's not enough

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to push a button on an advertising

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Network this is uncomfortable and

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Founders continuously find many ways to

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avoid doing this the most common way is

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believing that you can recruit people by

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just writing more code or doing more

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work on your machine or your robot or

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whatever you're building I know this

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from my experience of YC that this

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actually don't work so why am I talking

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about this right now learning the

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tactics of sales is just one side of

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this uh of of this learning the most

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important side is just really realizing

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that it comes down to you it's not just

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knowing exactly how to do sales in

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theory but actually doing it and

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actually wanting to succeed another

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great visualization is what's called a

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startup curve this was initially drawn

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by YC found program and then labeled by

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Trevor Blackwell and you've probably

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seen this curve before most companies go

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through something like this it's kind of

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like a timeline for startups here's how

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it goes first you launch these days most

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companies don't launch on TechCrunch but

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probably on product hunt or Hacker News

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or some other internet board the launch

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energy that you get from this launch

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eventually starts wearing off as early

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adopters are looking out for something

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new if you don't have instant High

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retention nobody does for what you are

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building then you'll enter the through

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of Sorrow this can take a long time and

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many companies die during this stage

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they just give up and don't move fast

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enough with testing new things some

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startups do move fast enough and release

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new improvements of their product

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they'll listen to users and they improve

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many still don't get anywhere further

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and becomes victims of the crash of

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ineptitude it's the founders to stay the

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course and don't give up that reaches

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the Wiggles of false hope and eventually

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the promised land of crack Market fit

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the learnings we draw from the start

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curve is that every moment in the early

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days of startups the founders are the

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ones that make the difference between

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success and failures if you are in the

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wrong Market

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it's the founders that switch to a new

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one and if you don't know how to do

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sales it's the founders who learn so you

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have to really want it otherwise this

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won't work all right let's talk about

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sales and how to do sales first Founders

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should learn how to do sales you should

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learn how to do sales because you'll

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need to learn to know your customer

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talking to customers and sales are

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effectively different sides of the same

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coin and the same reasons Founders can't

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understand what to build they don't

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understand what the problem is you don't

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know how to sell unless you know your

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customers two learning how to do sales

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actually gives you full control of your

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destiny as a startup just like you can't

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Outsource engineering sales has to be

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part of the DNA of the founders

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sometimes you just have to learn it as a

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result you should not hire a sales team

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until you know how to do sales yourself

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only then will you know what good looks

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like you also can't do sales if you

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practice bad and you won't know if the

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product is bad unless you've had some

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effort in trying to sell it first if you

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don't know how to sell don't worry you

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you can learn it's probably the easiest

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job to learn in startup if you know the

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problem you're solving if you know

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you're product intimately if you know

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the market you are an expert in the eyes

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of the customer they will want to hear

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what you have to say finally a love for

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solving customer problems is really

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infectious if you're really passionate

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about solving this problem they will be

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able to tell if you don't believe me

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here are some examples of Founders who

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took on the sales job and learned to get

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really good at it so Tony from doordash

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matild from front Tracy from plangrid

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and Steve Jobs let's get straight into

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an example so these are the brex

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founders Pedro and henrique when brex

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was in wycomner in Winter of 2017 they

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recruit the first 10 customers directly

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from the YC batch June YC you have the

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benefit of being around other startups

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I.E potential customers the brex

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founders asked themselves what would the

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minimum product look like that they can

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build to be useful to other startups and

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then they went with strain straight into

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signing up those customers the first

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version was very very simple customers

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just had a virtual credit card and

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Enrique from brex actively onboarded

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everyone of the customers himself of

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course they could have waited until they

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had a full-blown product a website a

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Mobile app all of those things but they

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decided to get going when they have

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something that was really useful this is

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how their first physical card looked

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like this before they had this card they

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just had a virtual card Rex reached out

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to the their YC batch and otherwise the

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companies and this is the email that

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they sent I'm just going to read a brief

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portion of it hey guys we're opening up

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our beta for winter 17 batch friends

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with the 10 spots for beta users 10 spot

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this sounds like there's a limited spot

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so I should take actions brex is a

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corporate credit card focused on

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technology companies that's me perfect

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you're actually writing the email

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directly towards your customers we don't

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require a personal guarantee it can

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underwrite startups who just got started

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this was the value prop most other

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alternatives to brex did not have

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something like this so how much does it

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cost it's free the merchants are paying

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us so there's zero Annual fees this

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seems like a no-brainer I would argue

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that this email is probably a little bit

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too long but it did work so let's talk

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about how to write a great sales email

play06:41

so first it should be short Max 6 to 8

play06:45

sentences the brexit sample on the

play06:47

previous slide is probably too long it

play06:48

still worked but probably too long

play06:50

people don't have time to read long

play06:52

emails if you're coming out of Academia

play06:55

your culture is going to be very

play06:56

different you write very long emails but

play06:58

in the world of sales you want to get to

play07:00

the point and be brief as much as you

play07:02

can two you want to make sure you have

play07:04

clear language no jargon no buzzwords

play07:07

just say exactly what you do and how it

play07:09

works and then three address the problem

play07:12

that the potential customer is having

play07:14

four do not use any HTML formatting

play07:16

write your email in plain text only like

play07:18

you would written it to a friend say you

play07:20

are the founder of the company who makes

play07:22

this product many people forget to do

play07:24

this describe why you and your team are

play07:27

impressive include social proof and

play07:29

remember to show not tell don't say

play07:31

you're an expert don't say how many

play07:33

years that you have been an expert if

play07:35

you're in the YC match if you worked at

play07:37

impressive companies in the past those

play07:38

are other piece of social proof that you

play07:40

can include you won't include a couple

play07:42

of these ones so that the reader knows

play07:45

the source and even if they don't know

play07:47

you gives assign you some authority six

play07:49

you want to include a link to your

play07:51

website the website needs to be simple

play07:53

you have to have information about the

play07:56

product the website should not have a

play07:58

lot of drawings or sort of like paid for

play08:01

graphics you should just have

play08:02

screenshots from your product and

play08:04

bullets about what your product does

play08:06

sometimes it works to send a short video

play08:08

a YouTube video that you can embed in

play08:10

the email that's very easy for the

play08:11

receiver to click on and View and I've

play08:14

even seen people using gifs now those

play08:16

videos and those gifs needs to get to

play08:18

the point right away because the the

play08:20

receiver is kind of intimately familiar

play08:22

with the problem but not really have

play08:23

time to watch two or three or four

play08:25

minutes of a potential solution and then

play08:27

finally you want to include and ask for

play08:29

a call or a meeting or a self-serve

play08:31

whether whatever is appropriate for your

play08:33

company but there needs to be a call to

play08:35

action in the email that you're sending

play08:37

all right let's talk about the sales

play08:38

funnel the concept of sales funnels is

play08:40

really quite easy I think people get

play08:42

confused by the language the sales

play08:44

people are using so I try to simplify it

play08:46

here on the left hand side I call it the

play08:48

founder speak on the right hand side I

play08:51

call it the sales speak these are not

play08:52

going to be perfectly mapping but you

play08:54

get the idea so first you want to make a

play08:57

list of customers you plan to reach out

play08:59

to in sales it's called prospecting or

play09:01

lead generation we'll just call it make

play09:03

it the list and you can use Google

play09:04

spreadsheets or something like that to

play09:06

make this list then we want to send them

play09:08

an email or a LinkedIn message or add

play09:10

them on LinkedIn or whatever is the

play09:12

appropriate way to contact these people

play09:13

after that you want to schedule and run

play09:15

a demo or a meeting from that response

play09:18

to the email and then you want to talk

play09:19

pricing and then finally close them as a

play09:21

customer the last thing which you should

play09:22

not forget is after you've closed them

play09:24

you still need to onboard them to make

play09:26

sure that they start using your product

play09:28

if this is successful and you have good

play09:30

retention that could lead to long-term

play09:31

Revenue if you forget the last step then

play09:34

you will have lots of churn because

play09:35

people don't actually know how to use

play09:36

your product and this is common with

play09:38

early products because they are not easy

play09:40

to onboard in the beginning this is not

play09:42

something you spend a lot of time

play09:43

optimizing so make sure that you do the

play09:45

onboarding as part of this process if

play09:47

you go back to the Google spreadsheets

play09:49

that I'm that I'm making that I'm

play09:51

putting in all the information you

play09:52

should start simple but you should have

play09:54

some Columns of things that you're

play09:56

tracking so industry uh the company the

play09:59

title the name the email maybe the

play10:01

LinkedIn this could be enough to start

play10:03

with a lot of CRM software comes with

play10:06

these categories so these columns it's

play10:09

pretty good idea to kind of use a simple

play10:10

CRM software

play10:12

um to kind of accomplish the same goal

play10:14

but the key thing here is doing this

play10:16

work up front and I've seen a lot of YC

play10:18

Founders that when they are getting to a

play10:20

thousand of these they're like oh this

play10:22

is a very simple task I can actually

play10:24

Outsource this and I think that can work

play10:26

if you know exactly what it is you're

play10:28

Outsourcing storing all this information

play10:30

is going to be helpful for you in the

play10:31

future now I made my list I understand

play10:34

this the sales funnel so who should I be

play10:37

going after and how should I be

play10:38

prioritizing as I'm doing the Outreach

play10:41

here's my most important advice when it

play10:42

comes to sales your first customers

play10:44

should be your easiest this is not the

play10:47

time to bite off the hardest one

play10:49

focus on the easiest ones what I mean by

play10:51

that is you should try to do sales

play10:53

make the sales processes easy for you as

play10:55

you possibly can startups don't really

play10:58

have time to chase every lead there's a

play11:00

lot of leads out there you you don't

play11:02

have to pick all of them you really

play11:03

don't you're so early you can pick only

play11:06

the ones that are the most likely to

play11:07

close the best way to do this I have a

play11:09

big pipeline where that means a lot of

play11:11

people that you're emailing are

play11:13

potential customers and then as you're

play11:15

getting responses and you're getting to

play11:16

meetings start prioritizing those who

play11:18

are the most likely to close you can

play11:21

probably tell from their answers to your

play11:23

qualifying questions during the sales

play11:24

call

play11:25

avoid those who are moving slow and

play11:28

don't be afraid of letting customers go

play11:31

don't be afraid of letting customers go

play11:32

what I mean by that is that if someone

play11:34

is dragging you along two or three calls

play11:36

you can always be like it's been great

play11:37

getting to know you

play11:39

um and I've learned a lot but

play11:41

um we should talk again in six months

play11:43

that's totally fine to say two

play11:45

selling to people you know is going to

play11:48

be easy to selling to strangers so you

play11:50

should take advantage of your network

play11:51

three selling to startups is the easiest

play11:55

category and I've I've learned this On

play11:57

and On Again with YC company

play11:59

specifically the ones that sell software

play12:01

it just turns out that bigger companies

play12:04

have more bureaucracy more processes

play12:07

they even have a specific Department

play12:09

that is in charge of negotiating with

play12:11

you and that takes a long time and

play12:13

startups don't have any of these things

play12:14

because they don't have time to create

play12:15

these things but it's not a priority for

play12:17

them

play12:18

so startups have short decision-making

play12:19

lines you can often find that the

play12:22

decision maker right away as you do in

play12:24

the Outreach and you don't have to go

play12:25

through a difficult process that's why

play12:28

startups are easier and that's why we

play12:30

recommend most companies to sell to

play12:32

startups at least leads me to the fourth

play12:34

Point most people are not early adopters

play12:39

and I keep saying this to the white

play12:40

companies I work with all the time the

play12:42

reason you have to sell send hundreds of

play12:44

emails is not that most of those people

play12:47

get really upset and be like I can't

play12:49

believe you emailed me like I really

play12:50

love this alternative product by hate

play12:52

your product that's not what's going on

play12:53

most people they email are just be like

play12:56

archive they just don't care they're not

play12:59

going to try a new product that comes in

play13:01

through your LinkedIn or your email and

play13:03

they might not be the people that try a

play13:04

new product at all in their career

play13:06

that's most people some other people I

play13:08

remember being one of those people when

play13:09

I worked at Airbnb I would love when

play13:11

founders emailed me with new new

play13:13

products and I would be the one signing

play13:15

up for them so

play13:17

when I worked Airbnb and you were a

play13:19

startup email me was great I am an early

play13:21

adopter I love trying new things I don't

play13:23

mind the risk of trying new things so

play13:26

for every outbound uh to an average

play13:28

company that you send you will mostly

play13:30

like most likely on the average outbound

play13:32

average email average LinkedIn reach

play13:35

someone who is not an early adopter to

play13:37

reach early adopters you just have to

play13:38

send more out by messages because then

play13:41

you don't have time to convince anybody

play13:43

to become an early adopter you have to

play13:45

find Aero adopters and just go for them

play13:47

early on don't worry about everybody

play13:49

else you just don't have time to

play13:50

convince them let's talk about charging

play13:51

it's attractive for you as a founder and

play13:54

for your company to offer your product

play13:56

for free offer free trials or unpaid

play13:59

pilots and these things come in many

play14:02

shapes and forms however if you don't

play14:05

charge your customers they are not a

play14:08

customer and you don't have a company

play14:10

customers paying you money is a great

play14:13

sign that you're providing them real

play14:15

value

play14:15

so you should resist the fear of getting

play14:18

a no because of price

play14:20

instead of figuring out what the price

play14:21

should be if they don't want to pay and

play14:24

you learn this during the qualification

play14:26

process in the first call or the first

play14:28

meeting

play14:29

if they don't want to pay that's a great

play14:31

sign that you should move on to the next

play14:34

customer

play14:35

again fire the ones who seem like

play14:37

they're not good fit move on to the next

play14:39

customers

play14:40

free trials are common for consumers but

play14:43

if you thought about it most consumer

play14:46

free trials ask for the credit card up

play14:48

front and then we forget and then we pay

play14:50

anyway

play14:51

that's because that actually works the

play14:53

best the bdb version of this

play14:55

is a better one than a free trial is a

play14:58

money back guarantee so we charge you if

play15:01

you're not happy you can get the money

play15:03

back in 30 days so 60 days

play15:05

um or even better you have the ability

play15:07

to opt out from the annual contract you

play15:09

just pay for one month instead of the

play15:10

annual fee but you should not offer free

play15:13

trials in B2B sales go for a money back

play15:15

guarantee and go for the ability to opt

play15:17

out instead increasing your price until

play15:20

your customers are complaining but still

play15:22

paying is the right way to go all right

play15:24

let's talk about the thing that most

play15:27

Founders get wrong I've seen as many

play15:28

times but there are a few things that

play15:29

most wanted to get wrong and this is one

play15:30

of them working backwards from your goal

play15:33

with your sales funnel in order to work

play15:35

your way backwards from a goal of say

play15:38

two signed customers you have to

play15:39

understand that each step in the sales

play15:42

funnel is going to have a drop-off when

play15:44

you haven't started sales yet you don't

play15:46

know what these draft off percentages

play15:49

are maybe you haven't done a lot of

play15:50

sales before you don't know what you're

play15:52

not good at maybe you're really good at

play15:54

sending emails but really bad at closing

play15:55

or vice versa you don't know that so as

play15:58

you're sending these outbound emails you

play16:01

need to take notes and start tracking

play16:03

all of these conversions in this example

play16:05

I'm sending 500 Outreach emails or

play16:08

LinkedIn messages I have a 50 open rate

play16:10

that means 250 people will open the

play16:13

email five percent will respond that's

play16:15

about 20 potential customers 50 of those

play16:18

will convert to demo from the response

play16:20

which means I'm doing 10 demos that's

play16:22

pretty good but I'm not that good at

play16:24

doing demos only two end up becoming

play16:26

customers from the demos that's 20 I bet

play16:29

you most of you don't even track this

play16:31

data but you should if you track this

play16:33

data you will have some idea of how long

play16:35

it will take to get to 10 paying

play16:37

customers if you don't track this it's

play16:39

very hard for someone to give you

play16:40

feedback of what's working and not

play16:41

working right it's just like when you're

play16:43

launching a new product you want to have

play16:45

some metrics and some user data to be

play16:47

able to tell if it's working when you're

play16:49

doing sales you want to have this data

play16:50

if you have this data people will be

play16:52

able to give you feedback on what what

play16:53

you're good at and what you need to get

play16:54

get better at my advice is to use a

play16:57

simple sales CRM software that tracks

play16:59

these conversion rates automatically

play17:00

let's look at the same second example

play17:02

this is how it looks like for most

play17:04

startups even the ones that I work with

play17:06

in the batch in the second example I'm

play17:07

sending 100 Outreach email it feels like

play17:09

a lot to me if I keep the conversion

play17:11

rates constant from the previous example

play17:13

I actually end up with zero customers

play17:15

and the conclusion the founders draw

play17:16

after this is that sales is not working

play17:19

for me and I should just do marketing or

play17:21

SEO or something else or referrals or

play17:23

something that sounds attractive this is

play17:24

simply wrong you don't have the data to

play17:26

make that call you did not do enough

play17:28

Outreach to actually get to correct

play17:30

conversion rate percentages in your

play17:32

sales funnel so the answer here is you

play17:34

sent a few minutes too few emails you

play17:36

don't have the data you can't draw the

play17:38

conclusion that sales is not working

play17:39

even though you have serial customers

play17:41

and this is the mistake that funders do

play17:43

on and on and on again so to summarize

play17:45

what I just went through here you don't

play17:47

know your sales conversion rate that's

play17:49

why you need a CRM to keep track of it

play17:51

two because you don't know who is an

play17:54

early adopter you have a lot of drop off

play17:55

in the outbound sales that makes up on

play17:58

sales ultimately a numbers game and

play18:00

successful startups we like this and

play18:01

internalize this three you cannot close

play18:03

five customers from 10 leads it's not

play18:05

possible you need a lot more app on than

play18:07

that a lot more and unfortunately most

play18:10

finders don't work their way backwards

play18:11

from this sales funnel and they don't do

play18:14

this exercise and the result they don't

play18:16

succeed as sales and they don't really

play18:18

know why so a friend of mine from Airbnb

play18:20

Atlanta rashitzki he writes an excellent

play18:22

blog and he wrote a great blog post

play18:24

about how YC and a bunch of non-yc B2B

play18:27

startups

play18:28

um got their sales go to market strategy

play18:31

going I recommend reading this and other

play18:32

posts uh newsletter it's it's one of the

play18:35

best ones I've come across it has a lot

play18:37

of real data that he collected from real

play18:39

companies uh many of them being YC

play18:41

companies so in this example here in the

play18:43

second column Lenny is describing the

play18:46

initial sales motion of some of these

play18:47

companies as you can see some of the

play18:49

early ones like amplitude stripe front

play18:52

they were doing app on sales emails just

play18:54

like the one we described to get started

play18:56

those Founders were doing those sales

play18:57

emails as they get started some of the

play18:59

other ones was called Product LED

play19:01

product LED could mean something else

play19:03

than just doing up on sales but it

play19:05

doesn't mean having a big sales team and

play19:07

it usually does not mean doing marketing

play19:09

or SEO or something else practically it

play19:12

means something that the product itself

play19:13

is is sort of like driving the growth as

play19:16

you're running the demo

play19:18

um your goal is to close your first

play19:19

customers

play19:20

you want to ask a lot of questions up

play19:22

front in the demos and there's the

play19:24

founders who should do the demos because

play19:25

you are the one knowing the product and

play19:28

you know the customer pain points here

play19:30

are three examples of YC emails that led

play19:33

to customers so I'll let you guys look

play19:35

at the details of these afterwards but

play19:37

this is an app on email that led to uh

play19:39

72 000 a year contract this one LED is a

play19:42

very specific email that led to out

play19:44

Landing a goalie as a customer and this

play19:47

third example here is the one email the

play19:49

same email they got them 22 different

play19:50

customers all right I'm going to

play19:52

summarize this again the biggest

play19:54

mistakes that most finders do is they

play19:55

don't do enough Outreach because they

play19:57

don't work package from the goal

play19:59

believing that something else then sales

play20:00

is going to solve your sales problem

play20:02

Outsourcing sales is wrong you should do

play20:04

it yourself and you need to qualify your

play20:07

customers during your first call here

play20:08

are some of the tools I recommend so

play20:10

there are many many many tools this is

play20:12

perhaps one of the biggest categories of

play20:14

potential things you could use as you're

play20:16

doing sales but I recommend apollo.io

play20:18

close.com formerly called closed.io

play20:21

pipedrive or hunter.io these are great

play20:24

tools that you can use either as a

play20:26

simple sales CRM or Hunter you can use

play20:28

to get contacts or potential people to

play20:31

email from LinkedIn here are two

play20:33

additional resources if some people ask

play20:34

me for books usually there aren't good

play20:36

books but there is actually one that I

play20:37

come across I find really good it's

play20:38

called founding sales and then I also

play20:40

recommend lineage newsletter.com there

play20:43

are of course other ways that you can

play20:44

grow as a startup but the truth that

play20:47

I've learned is that even if you end up

play20:49

with say like Airbnb where the sources

play20:53

of growth is Word of Mouth Google search

play20:56

referrals Facebook advertising if those

play21:00

are the kind of end states of your

play21:02

growth strategy that's not how ambica

play21:05

started they didn't start by running

play21:06

Google sem or Google SEO

play21:08

the referral program did not bring in

play21:10

the first 2000 customers they did things

play21:13

that didn't scale and they looked

play21:15

different than the one they do at scale

play21:17

so a lot of companies are shorting

play21:19

straight into What's called the scalable

play21:21

growth channels the channels that

play21:22

they've heard work which is true at

play21:25

scale but that's not the same thing as

play21:27

when you're getting started so in this

play21:30

slide I'm outlining kind of like just a

play21:32

rough idea of like even if it turns out

play21:35

the Google sem and Google SEO is what's

play21:37

going to work at scale you need to find

play21:38

another place online where these people

play21:40

that you're going to reach through sem

play21:42

and SEO is identifying themselves online

play21:44

right and that might not be the same as

play21:46

Google if you're trying to go after sem

play21:49

which means search engine marketing it's

play21:51

going to be expensive probably because

play21:52

there's competition if you're going

play21:54

after SEO it's going to take a long time

play21:56

if your growth is say proc LED or

play21:59

virality referrals then personal

play22:02

networks selling through your personal

play22:03

Network to your co-workers is the way to

play22:06

get started of course if you're doing

play22:07

sales you should be doing sales it

play22:08

doesn't change very much like early

play22:10

stage sales to to large sales basically

play22:13

means all the things that I just

play22:14

described here

play22:15

done by 100 people in a sales team with

play22:17

more automation more tools more metrics

play22:19

but it's the same thing and if you

play22:21

practice setup to do online marketing

play22:23

it's not usually how most people start

play22:25

why because you can't really easily talk

play22:28

to people you can't learn from users if

play22:32

the first thousand or first-handed

play22:33

customers are brought in through Google

play22:34

and Facebook those people are not the

play22:36

kind of people that you can easily get

play22:38

on a 30 minute phone call with all right

play22:40

that's all I had today thank you

play22:42

everyone

play22:45

foreign

play22:47

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