Bootstrapping a Startup with Sales

When you’re starting a new business, especially if you’re intending to boostrap, sales are the lifeblood of your startup. You might have a groundbreaking product, but without sales, your startup won’t survive. Even if you’re not naturally inclined towards selling, mastering this skill is essential to success. Here are three starters for 10 to guide your startup sales strategy:

Use Founder-Led Sales

In the early days of your startup, no one knows your product, vision, and target audience better than you, the founder. Founder-led sales aren’t just about pitching the product; it’s about building relationships, understanding customer pain points, and directly receiving feedback to refine your offering. Founders are naturally passionate and knowledgeable, which can be a major advantage when convincing early adopters, and at the end of the day, you can be cheeky! Say you’re a founder and lean into it, you’d be amazed how happy some people are to help!

Create a Process and Test It

Successful sales don’t happen by chance. To scale, you need to create a repeatable sales process. This involves defining the steps from initial outreach to signing a contract and getting much-needed traction. Once you’ve built a process, test it and tweak it as you learn! Are there steps that take too long or don’t yield results? Are certain pitches or messaging approaches working better than others? By tracking and tweaking your process, you’ll define and refine a sales approach that works and can eventually hand off to a growing team to focus on other parts of your startup.

Be Persistent

Sales can be tough, I’ve been there. Rejections will happen, I’ve also been there and it’s not easy. Potential customers might ignore your emails, hang up on your calls, or say they’re not interested. But persistence is key. Keep following up and iterating your approach. Ask why they don’t think your product is for them. Sometimes you’ll learn something about your messaging or even a competitor. Sometimes, a prospect may just need more time, or perhaps a tweak in your offer will make the difference. Stay respectful, and learn from each interaction.

Sales Drive Everything

As a startup, sales are the single most important function, and sorry to say it but Field of Dreams lied… If you build it they won’t just come. Even if you’ve built the perfect product, customers won’t magically appear—you need to find them, engage them, and close the deal. Sales is a skill you must master, especially in the early stages, as it’s the only way to drive revenue and grow and generate what investors are looking for… Traction. Whether you enjoy selling or not, working at it is crucial. The future of your startup depends on it.