CONQUERING

THE

ENTERPRISE

BEST PRACTICES FOR EARLY STAGE

STARTUP SELLING TO LARGE COMPANIES

RULES

interactive working session

some content, lots of real-time discussion

this is your session, tell me what you want…

2Just Say “No!”

ME

cofounder & CEO of Drumbi

• 500Startups portfolio company, focused on business-

consumer communications

former Accenture Partner

did a startup and sold it

management consultant at heart

wife, two kids, dog… live in San Clemente, So-Cal

food, cooking and music

3Just Say “No!”

YOU

tell me about yourself, and your company

what are you selling? to whom?

what do you think when i use the words…

selling

salesperson

4Just Say “No!”

SELLING AS A FORM

OF TESTING

will anyone care about your product

who cares (what segment)

how much will they pay

what is the right sales model (distribution)

what is the right sales process

what is your customer acquisition cost

5

STAGE SPECIFIC

APPROACH

R1.0 Scale

Learn Revenue

Learn

Revenue

Learn

Revenue

MVP

6Just Say “No!”

KNOW YOUR

SEGMENT

VSB

1 or 2 people

Lifestyle, home-office

millions of them

SMB

some process

Quickbooks

lots of pain

Emerging Enterprise

$50-500M Revenue

Owner still influencing decisions

Complexity of F5000, but no human capital

F5000

Formal procurement

process

Lots of vendors and consultants

Departmental budgets

7Just Say “No!”

KNOW YOUR BUYER

VSB

I need it…

SMB

We need it…

Emerging Enterprise

We are forced to do

it…

I’m going to change the

game…

F5000

I was told to buy this…

We can’t build it

ourselves…

Faster time-to-market

8Just Say “No!”

EMERGING

ENTERPRISE

executives often have large unmet business potential, and

see opportunities in your offering

innovation in their segment may be scarce

margin pressure across the sector

small improvements may lead to significant upside

impacts them as much as the business

they can relate to a startup better…and you as well

low tolerance for bullshit

9Just Say “No!”

TERMINOLOGY

procurement/sourcing = purchasing, but with process and

guidelines

women and minority owned businesses

GSA contracts

mandatory rebid process

RFI = Request for Information

RFP = Request for Proposal

SLA = Service Level Agreements

MSA = Master Services Agreement

SOW = Statement of Work

10

Just Say “No!”

COMMON MISTAKES

hiring sales people too soon

focusing on channel relationships too early

selling, and not listening

not selling (“this shit sells itself!”)

not closing (“it’s a done deal!”)

not mentioning money

not saying no!

overcommitting and under-delivering

marketing

11

Just Say “No!”

THE ONLY THING YOU

NEED

the first reference customer (paying, the other type don’t

count)

a business-case or other proof of results

someone who will take a call, and validate your claims

rinse

repeat

12

Just Say “No!”

HOW TO DO IT

use Data.com, LinkedIn, FB, your neighbor, alumni network or whatever tool you have

find your ideal early-adopter

focus on two goals: getting to a “no” quickly, and finding your champion

early adopters will not buy without a champion, no matter what the benefit

exhaust your network, then go to 2nd degree

let early adopters self-select

issue a press-release

fake sign-up page, with some blog directed traffic

ask for help…beg borrow and steal your way into referrals

13

Just Say “No!”

EMAIL

14

Friends,

I am targeting a select group of companies for the second stage of Drumbi rollout, in 2012. Here is a list of target prospects. Please

respond to me if you have a VP or C-level contact at any of these businesses, that you would feel comfortable making an introduction to.

We simply want to see if our solutions are a good fit, and identify early adopters for the second half of the year. No hard selling, just trying

to identify great opportunities to help companies reduce op-ex, increase customer satisfaction, and improve lead conversion rates.

Many thanks.

Shervin

United Panam Financial Corp.

Roth Staffing Companies, L.P.

Metagenics, Inc.

Nikken International, Inc.

Consumer Portfolio Services, Inc.

Smith Micro Software, Inc.

Fletcher Jones Motor Cars Inc

Crescent Healthcare, Inc.

Tuttle-Click, Inc.

Community Dental Services, Inc

Prudential California Reality

Wonderware Corporation

Biolabs Inc

Roger Cleveland Golf Company, Inc.

Hireright, Inc.

Sir Speedy , Inc.

Orange Coast Title Company

Kelley Blue Book Co., Inc.

Berry Knott's Farm

California Title Company of Northern California

Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories, Inc.

Mp Biomedicals, LLC

Harte-Hanks Shoppers, Inc.

Zee Medical, Inc.

St Joseph Home Care Network

Anaheim Arena Management, LLC

Remedytemp, Inc.

AGR Group, Inc.

First American Professional Real Estate

Services, Inc.

Veterinary Pet Insurance Services, Inc.

Just Say “No!”

TEMPLATE

Dear ZZZZZ.

I am reaching out to let you know that a friend of mine, Shervin Talieh, founder and CEO of Drumbi, has developed

some very special technology to improve customer communications. Their solution is live at several companies and they

are ready to expand reach. I am looking for business contacts that would be interested in:

* Improving their CSI and CSAT numbers,

* Reducing their OpEx, to the tune of $50 per day, for EACH customer service representative they have

* Increasing web-to-phone conversion rates

Ideally, the company has more than 10 customer service or contact center agents, and is hungry for innovation.

Specifically, they are focused on mobile + social customer service.

Here is a link to their website, which has a short video demonstration on the homepage. www.drurumbi.com

Thanks.

15

Just Say “No!”

THE SHOT-CLOCK

your deal will start to be at risk the moment you find a fit

there are more reasons to say “no” than “yes”

you will optimize for the wrong objection

price

implementation time

drive the process, or it will drive you

if there is no customer skin in the game, there is no deal

there are multiple people conspiring against you as we speak

16

Just Say “No!”

RESPONDING TO

TRAPS

Incumbent

• RFI

• RFP

Internal IT

• Strategic

• New Standards

Do Nothing

• New priorities

Other startup

• New story

17

Just Say “No!”

YOU’RE BEING

PLAYED

one more meeting…

one more quote/proposal…

one more buyer…

no set deadline…

no defined process…

who is the buyer?

how will you make the decision?

what is your budget?

18

Just Say “No!”

TACTICS INCUMBENTS

WILL USE AGAINST YOU

“we do it all, including professional services”

“part of the master license agreement…its free!”

“we can help you define the requirements”

“lets visit our reference customers”

“we are HIPPA and SAS70 compliant”

“our VP of products is hosting an event…come!”

man-to-man offense

19

Just Say “No!”

SETTING TRAPS

SpeedSingular

focusDefine the category

Non-conformity

20

Just Say “No!”

HAPPY EARS

founders and inexperienced sales people will hear “yes”

when the prospect is saying “maybe”

pride themselves in “flipping” or “converting” a lead

the inner monologue is quite different (reality distortion field)

your enemy is the clock…

the goal is to qualify out, not in

21

Just Say “No!”

Paid in full.

22

THANK YOU.