Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 9, 2012

What are the value propositions, benefits and the messaging (bait), the pricing structure and channels (tackle), and length of sales cycle (how likely a fish will snap your line)? Will you need a big net (full-page ads in the WSJ) to catch lots of small sardines?

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Lean Southern California San Diego 167

Women Entrepreneurs Can

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Effective sales prospecting goes beyond simply casting a wide net; it involves strategic targeting and personalized engagement. By focusing on a niche space, you can hone in on prospects who have a genuine need for your offering and are more receptive to your sales pitch.

Sales 40

Sales Artificial Inteligence Technology Lead Generation 40

A Crowded Space

AUGUST 27, 2014

So, even if you’re doing 100M in gross services, you’re really still doing less than 10M in net revenue. This creates a hurdle for a company to adopt the software solution that may create longer sales cycles or lower sales conversion. . Sales cycle decreases . Sales conversion increases.

Sales Cycle 110

Sales Cycle Software .Net Business Model 110

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

3) Your business model seems flawed OR is not the right fit I talked a lot about unit economics and sales cycles in my last post. For example, some VCs have such deep pockets that they can throw a lot of money at a company to wait out a long sales cycle. But VCs look at unit economics in different ways.

Sales Cycle 54

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 54

Hippoland

AUGUST 16, 2018

3) Your business model seems flawed OR is not the right fit I talked a lot about unit economics and sales cycles in my last post. For example, some VCs have such deep pockets that they can throw a lot of money at a company to wait out a long sales cycle. But VCs look at unit economics in different ways.

Sales Cycle 48

Sales Cycle Differentiation Early Stage Bootstrapping 48

Rob Go

JANUARY 10, 2017

Timing is pretty unpredictable, and it’s a long sales cycle. If you are able, find a way to invest on the side if possible, whether it means finding a few high net worth folks to back you, or dabbling on Angelist or other platforms.

Technical Review 28

Technical Review Due Diligence Deal Flow Early Stage 28

Up and Running

DECEMBER 21, 2016

Net income to sales. Doing so can help identify areas where a business lags—in net profit margin, for example, or inventory turnover. In short—improve your EBITDA-assets ratio by: Increasing sales volume and revenue through customer suggestions and sales planning. Net income-sales ratio.

Metrics 60

Metrics .Net Cash Position Finance 60

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

It aims to fuel your sales pipeline , shorten the sales cycle, and generate revenue. Lead generation vs. account-based marketing: Fishing with a net or fishing with a spear. With lead generation , you cast your net wide to catch lots of fish. There are different ways to attract buyers with demand generation.

Demand 91

Demand Lead Generation PPC Leadership 91

Hearpreneur

MAY 8, 2022

connections and benefit from quicker sales cycles and more opportunities. Sometimes, casting a wider net doesn’t always produce better results. Ultimately, you can help your company succeed by understanding how people think and behave. Thanks to Drew D’Agostino, Crystal ! #5- 5- By marketing the old fashioned way.

Entrepreneur 132

Entrepreneur Audience Social Media Channel 132

ConversionXL

MAY 27, 2022

In this article, you’ll learn how to build a demand generation funnel that fuels the pipeline, shortens the sale cycle, and generates revenue. This value-based model bringing all the right customers to their yard is called demand generation. Stage 1: Target the right metrics for an effective long game.

Demand 124

Demand B2B Distribution Channel 124

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 10, 2008

In my case (LucidEra -- a SaaS analytics provider focusing on sales, marketing, and financial analytics), weve found that success requires not only building some best practices for analytics into our solution, but also coming up with a repeatable and scalable way to show the customer how to use the analytics and how to interpret the results.

Software Review 48

Software Review North America Europe Metrics 48

ConversionXL

MAY 8, 2014

CRC Health, the nation’s largest specialized behavioral health-care service provider, netted 220% more leads. This is called process value – giving prospects reason to keep moving forward within the sales cycle. (They have more results to report and will do so at Web Optimization Summit 2014 , May 21 – 23 in New York City.).

Clickthrough 100

Clickthrough Cost Tucson Customer 100

Tim Keane

APRIL 14, 2008

Can we, in short, develop knowledge that other competitors do not have to reduce our sales cycle and increase results? If our automated warehousing system is state of the art and provides us a 10% increase in Net Operating Income, what can we do with that money? Can we keep it to use as a war chest to expand in other areas?

Ireland 60

Ireland Wisconsin Forecast Sales Cycle 60

ConversionXL

APRIL 7, 2021

That’s a high level view, now let’s walk through an example scenario for each: Most B2B sales cycles are account-based and not end-user-based. Borrowing from the example above—with SMB buying cycles, the customer worth is lower & the complexity & requirements aren’t sophisticated. This is where you’ll see more ABM plays.

IP 98

IP Marketing Technical Review Software Review 98

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

If leads-based B2B marketing is fishing with a net, ABM is using a harpoon. 2,320 sign-ups; 39% of attendees were net new accounts; 34 sales-qualified opportunities; 5 new customers immediately converted with LTV of over $100k each (normally a 9 to 12 month sales cycle). Results of iRidium’s ABM efforts.

Marketing 105

Marketing Campaign Artificial Inteligence Sales Cycle 105

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

ABM takes you from fishing with nets to fishing with a spear. This shift in focus results in more efficient use of your marketing budget, shorter sales cycles, and a better customer experience. You’re identifying the accounts you want to engage, then strategically marketing to each contact in the account.”.

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 22, 2018

They measured success by the number of attendees, which they counted as net new prospects. Using Salesforce (which I dive into below), we created a report on how the event drove net new pipeline and whether it moved existing opportunities toward closed sales.

B2B 131

B2B Marketing Analytics Campaign 131

ConversionXL

MAY 30, 2017

Ideally, you’ll wait for a month to get at least one well-rounded sales cycle to use as a baseline. The reason to focus on those elements is that they represent the primary source of friction and funnel dropouts (in this specific case), so solving issues in these spots can net a substantial increase in number of conversions.

Analytics 126

Analytics Conversion eCommerce Technical Review 126

ConversionXL

APRIL 3, 2018

Understand growth accounting – new, resurrected vs churned = net growth (can also look at this at feature level, not only product). Offline sale – typically. Long sales cycle – 18 months or more. Track ecosystem health daily. Start with retention. Iterate to the vision. What makes B2B different?

Retention 106

Retention Artificial Inteligence Channel Email 106

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 8, 2015

Here’s how Andrew Anderson put it: Andrew Anderson: “Keep in mind that at this point you need to measure true net RPV as the cost dramatically goes up at that point. That being said I worked once with a financial lead gen company that tested this and had a 24% net RPV gain by forcing people to talk. Fewer leads but much higher cost.

Conversion 48

Conversion Analytics Matching Cost 48

ConversionXL

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020

In our experience, 99% of B2B SaaS products should limit the trial to 14 days, max […] “If you have salespeople, it’ll shorten your sales cycle. Shortening your sales cycle from, let’s say, six weeks to three weeks will reduce your CAC (customer acquisition cost) significantly. Image source ).

Customer 121

Customer Sales Cycle Email Missouri 121

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

Maybe that’s gotten me into trouble in some cases, where I’ve had to reinvent things that had already been figured out, but I think it netted out to be a benefit for our innovation.” We got a great reference, so the sales cycle was extremely short, maybe one call and one email.

SEO 110

SEO Hiring PPC Leadership 110

ConversionXL

NOVEMBER 13, 2019

Maybe that’s gotten me into trouble in some cases, where I’ve had to reinvent things that had already been figured out, but I think it netted out to be a benefit for our innovation.” We got a great reference, so the sales cycle was extremely short, maybe one call and one email.

SEO 49

SEO Hiring PPC Leadership 49

ConversionXL

MAY 8, 2019

Designed to collect email addresses, downloadable content is more common in B2B, which has longer sales cycles and a more complex buying process. Downloadable content still has a place in an ecommerce content marketing strategy, especially if you’re selling a high-ticket item that may lengthen the sales cycle.

eCommerce 131

eCommerce Marketing Audience Non-Compete 131