Sales pays the bills and keeps the lights on. Yet companies systematically neglect or underinvest in Sales.

Only 13% of Silicon Valley start-up founders have a sales background. A founder without an IT or engineering background would not lead product development, and yet founders without a sales background take charge of sales. Sales is a specialised soft and hard skillset typically developed on the job and not in an MBA program. The #1 reason for start-up failure is lack of product-market fit – a risk that can be significantly reduced by investing early in Sales. At the critical early stages of product development, sales people bring in a pragmatic view of the market and are continuously exchanging information with their industry network. Good sales people will have booked pilots customers and pre-sold an MVP before it is ready! 

At Scale-up stage, companies must rapidly replicate what works and filter out what doesn’t. Investing in a good sales team, proven sales methodologies and sales automation tools can be highly efficient from an ROI perspective, saving time to market, improving win rates and overall profitability. Especially for businesses serving organized customers – Enterprise, B2B and Public Sector –a professional and standardized sales capability is key to success. According to McKinsey 70% companies over- or under- invest in sales support and Accenture estimates that for every dollar invested in sales training, a company gets $4.53 in return — a 353% ROI.

In COVID, sales went digital as face-to-face meetings and conferences came to a standstill. 97% sales professional interviewed in 2020 said ‘sales technology was ‘important or very important’ and 61% top-performing sales leaders reported using sales automation. A strong trend is emerging towards a data-driven, agile- and digital- sales organization. Especially for traditional small-medium businesses, digitizing the Front Office – sales, marketing and support – will be key to staying profitable and competitive in the post-COVID digital economy.

Mastering sales is important for your company’s survival, growth and competitiveness.