ABSTRACT
What is needed . . . are entrepreneurial sales skills; the ability to change presentations, customers and products on a daily basis, the ability to calmly process the news that the product features, schedules and functions have changed yet again. The ability to listen to customer objections and understand whether they are issues about the product, the presentation, the pricing, or something else. There is no fixed price
list and product presentation that will last more than a week. What we need early on in sales is an individual comfortable with chaos and uncertainty who can close an order and not worry about building an organization. The goal of our first salesperson is to validate the business model by developing a sales roadmap, closing orders, and doing this without having a real product in hand. This may or may not be someone who can manage and build a sales department later. 1
This early selling is part of the customer development process and involves serious learning, which unfolds through the experimentation with different market segments and prototypes. It involves a give-and-take between the person in charge and the previously identified venturesome customers. Based on valuable customer feedback, as well as discussions and decisions undertaken by the customer development team, the organisation will modify its products. In addition, the processes for making and selling the product should be validated, discussed, and improved. It will help to shape the start-up’s message to describe the unique differences of the new product to potential customers.
