Sometimes, outside consultants in sales and marketing (like us) fail miserably for a reason they will never, ever be able to change.
But, before we discuss why, let’s look at how consultants, and the companies who hire them, get to that point in the first place.
The founders or CEO of a company – could be in any industry but we see it a lot with advanced-stage startups – realizes that they need revenue, fast. It’s a scary feeling, to see your resources (like from investments) drying up and not enough new clients or recurring revenue to keep your company afloat. It’s all the more painful when the founders know they have an awesome solution that is needed in the market, but no one realizes that.
What happens next is classic: one of the company’s founders will be appointed to be in charge of sales.
Unfortunately, this person is 90% most likely an engineer and completely unfamiliar with sales and biz dev best practices. But, being a smart person who helped found a company he knows enough to look to hire someone experienced in sales, and perhaps even marketing.
Except, after a few months there are no results, no comprehensive strategy, and no hope for new clients. This is often when companies will bring in a company like KSW Solutions to help consult on their sales and marketing.
The trainer (or an advisor/consultant) shows up and does their best… but, it’s not good enough for one simple reason.
The engineer that was appointed to manage sales actually does not want to be there. They do not want to be trained, educated, or guided. That “VP”, that founder, that CEO – they do not want to be doing Sales OR Business Development, OR Marketing.
They want to do what they love – build new products, develop additional features, come up with solutions, and work on the tech. No amount of consulting or advising is going to turn an innovative engineer into an excellent sales manager who will guide the company to millions of dollars in sales.
There is a way to prevent all of this – the sad engineer who doesn’t know about product/market fit, the frustrated consultants who see that the team they are trying to help doesn’t have the right management, and the CEO angry at the money they’ve ‘wasted’ on consultants and scared as to how they will bring in new revenue.
In the beginning, don’t promote from within. Hire a full-time, in-house, VP Sales and Business Development.
However, we know that a lot of companies don’t have the budget, or really the need for a full-time VP Sales. Which is why we are here. We can offer you a hands-on partial VP Sales and a Fractional CMO that will be able to build your Sales and Marketing activity, guide your future expansion and know where to go, where to sell, and how.
Help us spread the word about fractional Sales and Marketing to help new business save time and money and start being profitable much sooner!
