Leads
Lead
Your first lead
Opportunities
Closing
Payment
- too late?
Why it's never too early to start with sales
An empty pipeline, one note in it, and a payment lane waiting for a note that takes months to arrive.
Why watching cashflow is mission critical
An empty pipeline; the payment lane reads €0.
Why watching cashflow is mission critical1 / 1
Watch your cashflow
A million euros is coming, and the company is gone.
Jan
- Cash€100,000
- Cost−€50,000
Feb
- Cash€50,000
- Cost−€50,000
March
- Cost−€50,000
April
- Revenue€1,000,000
Bankrupt
Two months of cash
The million lands one month late
Why sales is more than just selling
Each stage pays out before the payment lane does.
Why sales is more than just selling1 / 1
Sales is more than selling
Selling early pays out three times, and all three arrive before the revenue does.
Gain market insight plus gain internal insights equals increase trust.
Gain market insight
Every customer talk is research you did not pay for.
When did this last happen to you?
Last month. We lost two days on it.
- Where to spend your time
Hypothesis 2- A network
Gain internal insights
How well do you sell, and could anyone besides you repeat it?
Increase trust
Investors and reluctant customers trust what someone else has already bought.
Before revenue
What 885 VCs weigh most
- Team
- 95%
- Business model
- 83%
- Product
- 74%
- Market
- 68%
- Attracting investment
- Convincing reluctant customers
The "=" is a claim, not a proof: a first result shows your team can sell.
Survey of 885 institutional venture capitalists: Gompers, Gornall, Kaplan and Strebulaev, How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions?
How to start doing sales
Leads fill the first lane; two move on.
How to start doing sales1 / 4
Stages of sale
The first two steps are in your hands. After them, every stage pushes the money further to the right.
In your hands
Calendar time you cannot compress
Leads
Step 1
Lead generation
Research and keep a list of potential customers
- Brightfield CargoJonas Weber
- Kestrel FreightMia Novak
- Orbit LogisticsSara Kim
Step 2
First contact
- Cold call
- Inbound lead
- Your network
Opportunities
The customer shows interest
Interest is not a deal
- Follow-up
- Sales material
- Meetings
- Negotiation
The actual hard work
Closing
Signed contract
The customer agrees to a contractual and transactional relationship
signature
Still not cash
After-sale
- Production
- Delivery
- Customer success
Cash
Invoice paid
30 to 60 days after it is sent
- This week
- Weeks to months
- One signature
- Money arrives
How to start doing sales2 / 4
Pipeline tools in practice
Every prospect a card, every stage a column. A spreadsheet is enough.
Monday · open pipeline
€168,000
11 deals in 5 stages
Where your week goes
Lead in
€24,5003 deals
Brightfield Cargo
Jonas Weber
€12,000
Kestrel Freight
Mia Novak
€8,500
Larchwood Haulage
Tom Reyes
€4,000
Contact made
€21,0002 deals
Orbit Logistics
Sara Kim
€15,000
Pinecrest Freight
Ali Demir
€6,000
Needs defined
€25,5002 deals
Quarry Transport
Eva Lind
€22,000
Redwood Shipping
Ben Ortiz
€3,500
Proposal made
€49,0002 deals
Saltmarsh Cargo
Nora Fischer
€40,000
Tidewater Freight
Raj Patel
€9,000
Negotiation
€48,0002 deals
Vela Logistics
Lisa Moreau
€30,000
Umbra Couriers
Kai Berg
€18,000
A name on your listA signed contract
How to start doing sales3 / 4
How marketing feeds the pipeline
Massive volume, into one defined stage. Sales works what lands there.
Marketing
Content
Ads
Web page
massive volume
Lead in
inbound
A form sent: sales can call
checkout
An order placed online
inbound
A demo booked
Contact
- Orbit
- Pinecrest
Needs
- Quarry
- Redwood
Proposal
- Saltmarsh
Negotiation
- Vela
A defined stage
Sales works what lands here
How to start doing sales4 / 4
Watch your cashflow
The same million, one month earlier. The company lives.
Jan
- Cash€100,000
- Cost−€50,000
Feb
- Cash€50,000
- Cost−€50,000
March
- Cost−€50,000
- Revenue€1,000,000
April
- Was here
One month earlier
Why building an effective sales pipeline takes time
The lanes thin out, and slowly.
Why building an effective sales pipeline takes time1 / 3
What is a sales pipeline
The columns are your funnel, the drop between them is your conversion rate, and the way across is your sales cycle.
Conversion rate 3 : 1
How many leads become one opportunity: tells you your offering
Sales funnel
the stages, and how many sit in each: tells you your volume
Lead6
Kraus Dental
Novak Dental
Hofmann Dental
Brightline Dental
Okafor Dental
Lindqvist Dental
Opportunity2
Kraus Dental
demo booked
Novak Dental
proposal sent
Deal1
Novak Dental
€12,000
signed, invoice in 30 days
Sales cycle · first contact to the money: tells you your efficiency
Why building an effective sales pipeline takes time2 / 3
Pipeline by the numbers
Do you have 27 names? That is what one deal takes in this example, 9.5 months before the money.
27 : 1
total conversion: 27 leads for 1 deal
Lead · 272 weeks
Kraus
Novak
Hahn
Okafor
Lind
Meyer
Santos
Petrov
Weber
Dubois
Haas
Larsen
Moretti
Fischer
Ito
Becker
Nowak
Schulz
Rossi
Keller
Varga
Bauer
Jansen
Wolf
Costa
Sato
Ahmed
3:1
Opportunity · 96 months
Kraus
demo
Novak
proposal
Weber
pricing
Haas
demo
Fischer
legal
Nowak
proposal
Keller
demo
Bauer
pricing
Sato
demo
9:1
Deal · 13 months
Novak
€12,000
signed
8 others still talking or lost
Sales cycle: 9.5 months from first lead to money
2 wkOpportunity · 6 monthsDeal · 3 months → money
Why building an effective sales pipeline takes time3 / 3
Why it takes time to ramp up
Nothing is written yet: no material, only questions about the market, and the two numbers you plan with are blank.
1 · Preparation
Before
Sales deck · Pricing · Offering · Business model
Sales deck · Pricing · Offering · Business model
During
Demo · Meeting slides · Proposal
Demo · Meeting slides · Proposal
Deal
Contract · Compliance · Legal
Contract · Compliance · Legal
dashed: not written yet
2 · Unknown market
Who is really your customer?
What are they willing to pay?
What problem do they really need solved?
answered only by real conversations
3 · Unknown metrics
Conversion rate
? : 1
Sales cycle
? months
Both needed to plan backwards from your cash.
Day one
Each column shrinks only by doing. How many of these three have you started?
Start before you need the money
A full pipeline: revenue lands in the payment lane.
Start before you need the money1 / 1
Watch your cashflow
Revenue in Q3 means the first call in Q1, while there is still cash on the board.
Q1
- Cash€100,000
- Cost−€50,000
Q2
- Cash€50,000
- Cost−€50,000
Q3
- Cost−€50,000
- Revenue€50,000
Q4
- Cost−€50,000
- Revenue€50,000
Start early!
Q1 means this week, while there is still cash on the board.
This week: four steps
- 01Cashflow viewMonth by month. Find your zero-cash month.
- 02Lead listResearch potential customers. Keep the list current.
- 03First contactCold call, inbound, network. Open opportunities.
- 04Track dealsA simple pipeline. Measure conversion and cycle.