CHAPTER 1

Defining Sales
To define sales, we first need to ask a simple question. Who needs to know how to sell?
The answer may surprise you... everyone. Yes, everyone. Regardless of what you do, be
it owning a small business or cranking away as an aspiring artist, you need to know how
to sell. As a small business owner, it's your job to get customers in the door. As an artist,
it's your job to move your artwork. We are selling every day, we just don't realize it.
Which means that we are deciding to be poor salespeople, in most cases.
If you're thinking to yourself,
"I'm not a salesperson by trade, so this doesn't apply."

You're horribly mistaken. Selling is all around us, from the billboards we drive by on the
way to work to the idea that you just ran by your boss during the latest conference call.
It's all sales. It's your decision on whether you want to make yourself more persuasive
and more impactful, and this guide is a great place to start. The ability to sell is
an enabler, allowing you to grow your business and your dreams.
What Is Sales?
When thinking about sales, a common misconception of the trade exists: The best sales
professionals are those that "convince" most people to buy from them. The typical
thought process of a failed sales process goes something like this:
"How do I convince the prospective customer that my product or service
provides value to them or their business?"

This isn't how the most successful sales professionals think, however. Their intention
is not to convince but to uncover the reasons why their prospects would benefit from their
solution.

The key to a good salesperson is research. This commitment is what separates those that
are coveted and compensated by the most lucrative industries, from the has-nots.
Anyone can convince someone to try something one time, but growing a book of business
that is filled with consistent and trusting customers takes a professional. A professional
that loves their industry and views what their role as uncovering problems for their
customers.

Knowing enough about your prospective customers' pain points, so that you can
articulate them with precision, will put you leaps and bounds ahead of your
competitors. Sales is being prepared to capitalize on that opportunity, through diligent
research and preparation.
Researching and Data Gathering
We now know that research and data gathering about prospective customers is key, but
where do you find it? For the technology world, few datasources are better
than Crunchbase for pulling raw statistics on the company. Linkedin also offers a very
comprehensive search for both people and companies that may prove to be helpful for
your diligence.

The important piece of research is understanding the questions that matter to your
prospective customers, and tailoring those answers to fit their needs. There's no such
thing as a canned response in the world of effective sales.

CHAPTER 2
Salespeople and Motivation
The same industries attract the best sales professionals and the best sales professionals
use research as their best asset to close the largest deals.
Let's define who's good at it, why they're good at it, and what characteristics they have in
common. Generally speaking, these industries typically attract the best sales talent.
Energy
Finance
Pharma

So why would the best in the World be attracted to these specific industries? These
industries have the highest risk to reward ratio of using or not using a solution. What are
the repercussions for not using the right medicine? What are the repercussions for an
inefficient energy solution or the financial vehicle that loses a percentage of a pension
fund?
Where the highest risk vs. highest reward gap is greatest, you'll find the best sales
professionals in the world. This is because it's also where the largest margins on a sale
occur and where they can make the most money. The best salespeople are driven by the
hunt and the reward. It's why commission structures are so important for motivating
salespeople.
The professionals in these industries also present their solutions in the same terminology
to their prospects; high risk, high reward. In your respective industries, you should be
presenting your solutions in the same way:
What is the highest risk for not using my solution and what is the highest
reward for using my solution?

The answer to this question for you isn't a blanket statement for each prospect. It's
subjective to each prospective customer you talk to. It takes research and diligence in
knowing this about your prospective customer. This is something that usually dissuades
many. Those that are professionals respect the challenge of research and consider sales a
science. Does 50 hours of preparation for one customer scare you? No need to continue
to chapter 3.
Motivating a Sales Team
Salespeople are a complex animal. To motivate a sales team, you'll need three things:
1. A HUNT
Salespeople are driven by the hunt. They love a clear target and a challenge, they'll do the
rest. It's the salesperson's job to find the right contact and execute. Set clear goals and enable
them to hunt.

2. A LUCRATIVE COMMISSION STRUCTURE
Salespeople are also driven by money. It's just the nature of the role. The best commission
structures are those that both compensate the salesperson appropriately and is developed with
the customer in mind. There's nothing worse (from a customer's perspective) than a
commission-hungry salesperson. Make sure that commission is tied to customer happiness.
3. A LEADERBOARD
Salespeople are competitive people by nature, they like being the best. Have a clear
leaderboard in your office that ranks salespeople by performance. The best will rise to the
top.
CHAPTER 3
Qualifying a Customer
Your sales process begins with Qualification. We elected to spend an entire chapter on
just this topic to deliver the importance appropriately. The best way to do that is to tell
you a story.
At my first startup, I wanted my CEO to fire me. I was in charge of sales and for four
months I tried everything, to no avail. I knew it was me, because we had a great
product. It was a transportation card that worked in all the parking meters in
Philadelphia. The alternative to this card was a roll of $10 in quarters. Eventually, I went
from not thinking I was going to have a job to closing multi-million dollar deals with 7-11,
Shop-Rite, Wawa, and Conestoga Bank to vend these cards. It didn't happen over night,
a lot of failure had to take place first.
It all started to come together when I began asking a simple question, which focused on
the pain points of our prospective partners. I would walk into a store front with a card
and elegantly ask,
"Do you receive a lot of requests for quarters?"

Their faces would cringe with pain, as they thought I was going to ask them for coins. I
would simply hand them a card and say, "Not only do you never have to answer that
question again, but you can make money every time you hear it. Try this card out for free and
call me if you're interested".

This may sound simple in theory, and you're probably right, but the slightest tweak in
framing can do wonders. Our target market was not the commuters or the employers, as
we had originally thought. All the momentum came from asking the right
people the right question. Store owners that had the biggest pain point. For your
business, you need to be able to answer the following questions:

Who is the person that has the biggest pain point?
What is that pain they're experiencing?

Not everyone is your customer, and that is a good thing. Refine your process to get to
qualification by honing in on your target.
The danger of not qualifying a prospect is huge, impacting the two most important things
in business time and money. Can you think of anything worse than closing a deal and
realizing that it cost you more money than it made? Understanding whom your ideal
prospects are will allow you to not only set up processes and reduce inefficiencies, but
help you quickly disqualify a potential customer within a few questions.
Here's what the qualification process looks like for our friends at Ecquire:

Are you a Google Apps user? Do you currently use a CRM? Are you a
company with over 50 sales professionals?

If we can close this company, their lifetime or annual contract for 50 seats at $19/seat =
$11,400. That means we can confidently allocate resources and time to building this
relationship and researching this prospect.
Figuring out if it makes sense to pursue a prospective customer is one of your first steps.
Cost of Customer Acquisition and LifeTime Value
If you didn't catch it in the above example, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and LifeTime
Value (LTV) are the two biggest pieces in determining whether a prospect is worth
pursuing.
YOUR LTV SHOULD BE 3X MORE THAN THE CAC
Here's how LTV is calculated: LTV = ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) x Average
Lifetime of a Customer the Cost to Serve them (COGS).
Let's take this example from above. Ecquire's typical lifetime value is 2 years. This means
that their LTV is 22,800 (11,400 x 2), which means that they could spend upwards of
$10,000 to acquire a customer. That includes the cost to acquire them, as well as the
anticipated support to keep them.
This is obviously geared towards a web business like Ecquire or Stride, but it's a great
(real-life) example to provide some context behind the thought process you need to walk
through in your mind, prior to engaging a potential customer.

CHAPTER 4
How to Pitch
Oh, the pitch. It's arguably the most important part of the sales process. Some think that
you need to schedule an involved presentation to convince a room of skeptics to try your
product. Nope.
You need three minutes.

However, the time that goes into that three minutes happens long before closing a large
customer. The prep work can be upwards of 40 hours to prepare for a three minute pitch,
whether via email or in person. When possible, an in person meeting is exponentially
more valuable for the likelihood of closing your deal. In a virtual world, there's still a lot
to be said for face to face interaction.
This is the most optimal sequence of the three minute pitch:
Warm intro (mutual connection usually)
Credible and fact based research then confirmation of data
Highest Risk
Highest Reward
Ask
Now, here's an example of a conversation in person or an email. The only thing that's
different in asking in person vs. via email is that you should make the suggestion to take
it off-line.
Let's do an in-person example of an impromptu meeting with Aaron Levie of Box at a
cocktail party:
Warm Intro
Hey Aaron - How's it going? I'm Paul DeJoe, Dan Martell is a good friend
and investor in our company and he recommended that I talk to you about your
CRM. Do you have two minutes?

Credible and Fact Based Research
You guys are up to 750 people now and you're using Salesforce as your CRM,
correct?

Highest Risk
I heard that you're preparing for an IPO, and personally, I don't think you
should be confident in the reports you're getting from your VPs on projections,
given the amount of data that's incorrect or missing.

Highest Reward
I'd like to show you Ecquire, we're seeing from our customer base 100%
accurate compliance while adding no less than 7 hours of time back to each
individual user's week. The result has been 20% more sales and 100%
reliability on reports. If you guys think you can use it, it's only $19/seat and
Mike Smith is already a user.

Ask
Can I come by next week on Wednesday to give you a demo?

This same structure remains, even if you're pitching via email.
Reading the Signs
So much of sales is body language. When you're pitching in-person (or via email), it's
important that you read the signs to gauge interest. There's nothing worse than a
salesperson that can't take a hint. Don't be that person.
Focus on listening more than you focus on talking. Read their body language and adjust
your pitch appropriately. We all know what it looks like when someone isn't into your
ideas or, well, you. Know how to walk away and live to fight another day.

CHAPTER 5
Selling The Jury
Once you convince one person, it's likely that you're going to have to convince others.
This chapter is focused on the jury, the other people that need to "check-off" on the deal
before it can get done.
In the example above, we went directly to the CEO, which is often a good way to get
things done quickly. If you can convince the CEO, you can typically convince their
employees. However, most of the time you'll have to start at the bottom and work your
way up. Meaning, you'll have to win the jury, which includes the following stakeholders
with the following questions.
THE USER
Does this make me more efficient, save me more time or make me more money?
THE MANAGER
Will this make my department more productive and make me look better for a
promotion?
THE CFO
How much does it cost?
THE CTO
What is required to implement?
Each member of this decision making jury thinks they're the only person that matters,
and they all speak different languages. In other words, the CTO cares about security or
time investment and the end user cares about the product actually providing value. When
each of them evaluate your product, make sure you know how to speak their language
and appeal to what their interests are in the same way you appealed to the CEO: highest
risk and highest reward.
On a holistic level, the best way to gain approval of the jury is to answer their questions
in a simplistic and visual way. The best way to do this is by creating a one-pager, or a
single page pitch. Our friends at Buffer created a fantastic one-pager that does a great
job of helping convince the idea of an integration of their service to the jury, which is
embedded below.

The one-pager that they created calls out the key concerns that can deter a proposal
from gaining the "check-off" it deserves. A great one-pager should include:
Value to the business
Visuals of the final product
Timeline of proposal
Trust signals from other customers
Now that you've got the approval you need, it's time to start thinking about making your
sales process scalable.

CHAPTER 6
Forecasting Basics
Simple or it will break. That's how you need to think about processes, CRMs, KPIs,
and especially forecasting at your company. If the process is not simple, it won't be
followed across your company. If it is complex, it is not easily replicable or trackable for
improvements. It will break and then you'll blame the CRM. Which is often the culprit, but
not all the time. Focus on the things you can control with your process, and always error
on the side of simplicity.
Forecasting
There's three activities in a sales process:
Meetings
Emails
Phone Calls

The more you do, the more sales you will make. Certain CRM software will allow you to
enter the percentage likelihood of closing a deal. What in the heck is that? How can you
possibly determine a deal is 60% likely to close?
Use this quota doc to guide you and measure how often you're meeting the quota you
need. 100 emails should net you +/- 20% of your targeted monthly revenue. If it
doesn't, then tweak and improve each month to improve on the quality of the messaging,
meetings, or phone calls. Or, simply increase the volume.

When it comes to forecasting, it's important that you set realistic benchmarks. The reality
of forecasting is that it's a guess. That guess may be an educated one, but it's still a
guess. When forecasting, we typically like to set aside 3 benchmarks:
1. WORST CASE
This is the "shit hits the fan" forecast. Things happen in business, and you need to budget for
that. Set a benchmark that accounts for that so your sales team has a target that they can
actually hit if things go poorly.
2. CONSERVATIVE
This is the forecast that's made with some good and bad factored in. Think of it as the
realistic benchmark, one that you feel comfortable putting out there.
3. BHAG
This term was coined by the authors of Good to Great, and it's a fantastic concept. Did you
guess that acronym? Big Hairy Audacious Goal. Awesome. What is your "shooting for the
stars" forecast? That's your BHAG, and it should be the goal that everyone is shooting for.
We'd love to provide a blanket forecasting method, but it varies so much from business
to business. To help you along the way, we recommend reading this post on Inc. and this
guide on forecasting by How Stuff Works.

CHAPTER 7
Demystifying Sales Terminology
If you've spent any time around the world of sales, it's likely that you've heard quite a
few buzzwords. They're exactly that, buzzwords. It's not important that you memorize
each term word for word, but it will be helpful to have a general understanding.
This will help you do just that. We've pulled out the key words that you need to know
about, with a simple definition to accompany it (with help from Salesopedia). Let's dig in.

ADDED VALUE
The element(s) of service or product that a sales person or selling organization provides
that a customer is prepared to pay for because of the benefit(s) obtained.
ALTERNATE CLOSE
A closing technique in which a salesperson presents two alternatives in an attempt to get
a commitment for one of them from the buyer e.g. "do you wish to have it delivered on
Thursday or Friday?"


BAIT AND SWITCH
Selling an item at an unrealistically low price as "bait" to lure customer, and then
attempting to steer them to a higher-priced item, many jurisdictions outlaw this practice.
BOOK OF BUSINESS
A book of business contains customer data, and allows a business to break the customers
into appropriate groups so that it can set appropriate sales targets.
BOTTOM-UP FORECASTING
An approach to sales forecasting which takes market conditions rather than the
company's objectives as its basis, sometimes referred to as the "build-up" method.
CHANNEL
The means used by companies to make their products and services available to their
target market, examples include direct channel (sold by the company's sales force),
distributors, retail stores, manufacturers' reps and value added resellers.
CLOSE
The critical stage in the selling process when the salesperson attempts to obtain the
buyer's commitment to the purchase.
COLD CALL
A sales call where the salesperson doesn't personally know the company and/ or contact
s/he is calling on and/or a sales call where no known need, by the prospect or
salesperson, exists.
COMMISSION
Compensation paid to a salesperson following a sale based on a percentage of the gross
sales revenue, can be linked to units or margin as well, a commission-only compensation
program is sometimes called a 'full' or 'straight' commission.
COST OF SALES
A relative measure of internal costs, the cost of sales, expressed as a percent, is
calculated by dividing the total sales dollar volume sold by the sales force into the total
compensation cost of the sales force.
EXCLUSIVE DISTRIBUTION
Restricting the availability of a product to one particular outlet.
EXPRESS WARRANTY
A manufacturer's guarantee, stated in written or spoken words, that the product offered
for sale will satisfactorily perform the task for which it is intended, and to the buyer's
reasonable expectations.
FORECASTING
Predicting future variables, such as the level of sales in a given period, the environmental
factors that will influence the firm's performance, etc.
GATEKEEPER
An individual within an organization who is responsible for evaluating the potential value
of a salesperson's product or service for a particular decision maker and taking action
accordingly (e.g., passing them along to the appropriate person, asking them to send
something in the mail, etc), also called a screener.
LEAD
A person or organization that has shown an interest in a particular product or service, can
also be used to describe a person or organization that sales or marketing staff feel may
have a need for a particular product or service.
LEAD NURTURING
Having consistent and meaningful communication with viable customers regardless of
their time to purchase.
NEEDS BASED SELLING
Where the salesperson doesn't "sell", instead she or he helps the prospect or customer
make an informed purchasing decision based on their identified needs.
NEGOTIATED RATE
A non-standard charge for the carriage of goods agreed to by both manufacturer and
transport company.
PERCEIVED VALUE
What someone believes merchandise to be worth, to successfully sell premiums, the
consumer must be convinced the proposed premium is worth putting forth the extra
effort required to earn the item.
PIPELINE
Also known as the sales funnel, the tracking of suspects, to prospects to initial contact, to
presentation, to sale and the volume of movement across these categories.
PROBING
Asking questions to better understand the prospect or customers needs, thorough
probing increases the likelihood the sales person will uncover key information critical to
guiding the call and ensuring the more appropriate recommendation.
PROPOSAL
A written offer with specification, prices, outlining terms and conditions, warranty
arrangements and processes from a sales person or selling organization to a prospect.
PROSPECTING
The first step in the selling process, the activity of seeking out potential customers.
QUALIFY
To determine the purchasing potential of a prospect or customer.
QUOTA
A sales target (in revenue and/ or units) for a specified time period, also referred to as a
goal, budget or forecast.
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI)
A formal process of responding to a purchasers details needs to determine how well the
vendor can match the requirements.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)
Detailed response to a buyer (usually a company) providing detailed information on
product, service, timing, price, etc.
SALES TARGETS
The level of expected sales performance by an individual sale representative or a sales
team over a given time period, which may be weekly, monthly and/or annually.
UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP)
The particular quality, feature or benefit of a product which a competitor's product,
although similar, cannot or does not offer.
VALUE PROPOSITION
A clear statement of who the target market for a particular product is, of what key
benefits the product will deliver, and of the price that will be charged.
VALUE ADDED RESELLER (VAR)
The term generally used to describe an organization that sells another organization's
product after adding features to it.
CHAPTER 8
Tools of the Trade
As with any function, the tools you use to conduct your work are vastly important.
There's no fail-proof combination of tools to use, but there are better tools than others.
We want to make sure you have everything you need to succeed. Out of the many tools
we've used in the past, these are the best tools that we've found, in no particular order.
RAPPORTIVE
This is a fantastic tool that plugs right into your email client. The value to you is that you
receive a comprehensive view of who you're working with or would like to be working
with, including picture, social links, etc.

Rapportive is also great for helping you guess email addresses, if you don't know them
off-hand. For example, if I enter in an email address and a picture or social links return,
you've guessed the right address. If nothing shows up, you've guessed incorrectly.
STRIDE
Yes, we may be a bit biased, but every good sales process needs a simple deal
management tool to keep track and measure new opportunities. This is different than a
CRM, but serves a similar purpose, in a more simplistic
manner.

Some may use an excel document or other tools like Pipedrive or Pipeline Deals for this
process, but the decision is up to you.
BOOMERANG
Boomerang is a great Gmail plugin to help you remember all of the things
you're supposed to do. When you start selling, it's likely that you'll get requests to follow-
up or even, God forbid, not hear back from pitches that you send out via email. This tool
allows you to set triggers to remind you if you don't hear back from someone or need to
send a follow-up.


ECQUIRE
If you use a traditional CRM (or even a new-aged CRM like Stride), you'll notice the pain
that arises from the need to input data -- things like contact information, deal values,
etc. Ecquire makes it easy to input data into your CRM from anywhere on the way, in a
single click. Again, slightly biased, but if you ask us it's a must have add-on.


By no means is this list comprehensive, but it'll give you a good starting point. The most
important thing is that you pick tools that you enjoy using, that are simplistic enough to
manage and keep up to date.
There's nothing more useless than a process and toolset that you can't keep up to date.
CHAPTER 9
Getting Over the Hurdle
Alright, you've reached the end. Now what? The biggest thing you need to do is
overcome the hurdle that most trip over before they even get started with selling.
Sales is a scary thing, full of rejection and unique challenges. Before you begin, make
sure that you're aware of this, and accept it. Don't take rejection personally. If what
you're offering doesn't make sense for someone, accept it and move on. Don't ever allow
this process to get you down or prevent you from getting started.
Step out of your comfort zone and confront your fears. As we said in chapter 1, the skills
of selling is applicable to anyone and everyone. It'll make you a better leader, a better
business person, and a better communicator.
Think of this as your pep talk. If you need an extra nudge, just give this a listen.
Continued Learning
As with any skill, you'll need to continue your quest of learning. Here are some additional
resources to help you along the way.
Udemy
StartupPlays

Go forth, young padawan. We wish you the best of luck. If we can ever be of help along
the way, please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to hear from you.