the sales learning curve

Filed in archive Technology on October 13, 2004

Mark Leslie argues:

"By learning from the past, startups can build cost-effective, successful sales teams that burn through a minimal amount of cash on the road to breakeven...The time it takes to achieve cash flow breakeven is reasonably independent of sales force staffing. It is, instead, entirely dependent on how well and how quickly the entire organization learns what it takes to sell the product or service while incorporating customer feedback into the product itself. Because the entire organization has to come up to speed, hiring large initial sales staff does not speed up the time to breakeven, it simply consumes cash more quickly...Rather than starting with a large sales force, a company using the [sales learning curve] is better served by hiring a small team of sales execs with the analytical skills and patience to lead the company through an iterative learning process that includes the continuous discovery and solution of small but crucial problems."

No doubt it pays to have a learning organization especially in the early stages of a company. But on the other hand a certain amount of endurance is as important. It takes time to reach out to people's minds and make sure they have to time to learn about a product. A learning sales team should not be a hectic team jumping from one opportunity to another.

Via Dispatches.