There is another aspect that work life brings-challenges. And one such challenge is working in a small startup. I have been fortunate enough to work in a few multinational companies and at the same time in start ups.
Couple of reasons why start ups throws challenges especially from a sales perspective:
1) The objective of any business is to make things and sell things. If you are not doing any of this, you are wasting your time. Salesmen in startups are coocons working on weekends to close sales. Their objective is generate leads quickly, setup the initial conversation with the prospect and then driving it to the closure as quickly as he/she can. There is no 'I'll do it tomorrow' in startups. To go through the entire sales cycle process that faster without missing out an active customer focus and research would be a crime and that itself is a challenge.
2) Salesmen especially in the managerial role are sometimes faced with challenges to pick and choose what works for the team than the company- decision to hire a new sales guy than have a new coffee machine, decision to have more business cards than a new printer, decision to move into a new CRM than sponsoring a conference and so on.
3) Compensation and that's what drives 99% of sales folks in a start ups is quite good but the challenges and responsibilities that it brings are enormous. For example- in a Cloud SaaS based company, it becomes more important for you to ensure that your clients dutifully renew the deals because their reluctance for renewal will negatively affect your compensation.
4) The product is like your baby. With its little progressive steps, you'll get delighted. There is a personal relationship with every clients coming on board in a start up. Something enticing while doing a demo or standing in a booth with a prospect, you observe his actions and see the beam of his smile that the product has met more of his requirements
5) The team buys its own propaganda, and fully expects customers to leap tall buildings to get to your product. You never dreamed that customers would be slow to accept an unproven product from a startup in the middle of an economic downturn. To build a company from that crisis needs certain willpower.
6) I have observed in my short stint as a sales rep a lot of sales reps expects to be noticed when they get a deal. In a start up there is more probability for salesmen to be acknowledged for their performance. There is more satisfaction that meets your eyes, and that is just my personal opinion.
Couple of reasons why start ups throws challenges especially from a sales perspective:
1) The objective of any business is to make things and sell things. If you are not doing any of this, you are wasting your time. Salesmen in startups are coocons working on weekends to close sales. Their objective is generate leads quickly, setup the initial conversation with the prospect and then driving it to the closure as quickly as he/she can. There is no 'I'll do it tomorrow' in startups. To go through the entire sales cycle process that faster without missing out an active customer focus and research would be a crime and that itself is a challenge.
2) Salesmen especially in the managerial role are sometimes faced with challenges to pick and choose what works for the team than the company- decision to hire a new sales guy than have a new coffee machine, decision to have more business cards than a new printer, decision to move into a new CRM than sponsoring a conference and so on.
3) Compensation and that's what drives 99% of sales folks in a start ups is quite good but the challenges and responsibilities that it brings are enormous. For example- in a Cloud SaaS based company, it becomes more important for you to ensure that your clients dutifully renew the deals because their reluctance for renewal will negatively affect your compensation.
4) The product is like your baby. With its little progressive steps, you'll get delighted. There is a personal relationship with every clients coming on board in a start up. Something enticing while doing a demo or standing in a booth with a prospect, you observe his actions and see the beam of his smile that the product has met more of his requirements
5) The team buys its own propaganda, and fully expects customers to leap tall buildings to get to your product. You never dreamed that customers would be slow to accept an unproven product from a startup in the middle of an economic downturn. To build a company from that crisis needs certain willpower.
6) I have observed in my short stint as a sales rep a lot of sales reps expects to be noticed when they get a deal. In a start up there is more probability for salesmen to be acknowledged for their performance. There is more satisfaction that meets your eyes, and that is just my personal opinion.
