Slintel is a SaaS buyer intelligence startup that helps businesses grow their customer base using technographic and firmographic insights, along with buyer insights (including accurate emails and direct dials). It uses about 100 million data points each week to provide sales
recommendations to its customers.
Within three years after Slintel’s launch, we have grown our year-on-year revenue and user base by 5x. In the midst of a global pandemic, we raised $20 million in a Series A funding round and were recently acquired by California-based 6sense Insights Inc.
With timely decision-making and the confidence to make the right moves, I believe that other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also witness 3-5x revenue growth.
Based on our experience, here’s how SMEs can get on the path of going from $0-5 million in revenue:
1. Determine product-market fit from objective feedback
Feedback from early adopters shows if your product addressesa demand gap, and how it needs to improve. Often a small business’ first few customers are family and friends who may not be able to share negative feedback freely or at all. But constructive feedback is crucial to getting the product-market fit right.
So, don’t make the mistake of investing already limited funds into your product’s market growth before closing at least 10 cold deals.Such objective validation is necessary to know if your product is ready for growth.
2. Listen to customer communities to create differentiation
Many SME founders and product managers don’t realise the importance of being a part of the communities their target audiences are part of. Suppose your target audience is sales leaders. You must closely listen to the problems they highlight about your competitors. Knowing what your competitors lack – whether it is customer service or a specific product feature – can help you set yourself apart in specific markets.
But to truly succeed, your unique selling point (USP) has to be miles ahead of your competitors. Where possible, the USP should be something that cannot be replicated by others.
3. Identify your North Star metric to grow revenue systematically
Do you want to convert outbound leads into customers? Or hit a specific revenue mark? Whatever your goal for a year is, set it right at the start, stick to it, and measure it.
Suppose you set out to close 30 deals at $20,000. Now, don’t change the definition of your target deals just because you find that right now it is easier to close twice the number of deals at a smaller value. Otherwise, it is difficult to know what’s right with your product or service, and what you can do better to boost growth in the following year.
So, do not stray from your goal or change it unless you realise the target you are chasing is incorrect. Following basic objectives and key results (OKR) and key performance indicator (KPI) strategies can help you identify your North Star metric for each year.
4. Begin with a focused Total Addressable Market (TAM)
Many SME leaders make the mistake of targeting a loosely defined, wide TAM; they may say APAC or large enterprises. Aligning resources and focus for such a wide market is tough.
Ideally, start by focusing on a smaller group – not more than one country, a particular segment or industry, a few thousand customers. So, based on your offerings and goals, identify target markets for your early phases of growth.
5. Hire the right people and define roles to align marketing and sales early on
Initially, many SME founders and leaders handle too many roles – from generating leads to closing deals.
The best decision Slintel made was hiring a marketing leader soon after I was hired as the sales leader. By the time I set up the right sales processes and roles, our marketing team was ready to start filling the pipeline with suitable leads.
This allowed us to prevent our pipeline from drying up, as each team member was enabled to focus on their roles to bring in leads from multiple sources.If leads from one source dropped, other sources could compensate, and revenue continued to flow in.
6. Train rigorously to improve sales performance
It is helpful to conduct daily training sessions initially and encourage self-learning to identify the exact reasons behind failed deals and how you can address them. This needs sales leaders to be completely involved in everything that happens on the ground. Pro tip:If you are using CRM software, ensure it has the right filters and fields to mention these reasons rather than categorising all dropped leads as “ghosted” or “uninterested”. This can help you delve into missed opportunities and course correct for the future.
7. Build a work culture that encourages free communication
Your sales or customer success reps are the people who work closely with customers. Providing a work culture where everyone feels free to approach the leadership with concerns or suggestions can help you gain deeper insights into what is working and what isn’t. This is particularly useful during the early stages of your company’s growth when processes are still being developed.
Having approachable founders and leaders is vital for building a culture where employees are encouraged to speak up and drive growth.
8. Save more and maximise your investments’ ROI
Initially, try to save as much as possible on tools. Don’t buy all kinds of tools or the most expensive option available. But don’t compromise on essentials like your CRM software. Another area where you should not compromise is hiring. Never go with a candidate just because they have a lower salary expectation.
The cost of being stuck with the wrong technology and talent is much higher than you may think. But getting the two right can help you maximise sales productivity and profits.
9. Get the right tech stack in place
You can build a complete tech stack over time, but one tool I recommend SMEs use from day one is a CRM solution. This will help you get complete historical data any time you need it in the future. For this, it is also important that you do not delay implementation.
Capture the right customer data from the start and build comprehensive reports and dashboards to closely monitor performance. Besides CRM, invest in feature-rich and cost-effective sales engagement, coaching and intelligence tools early on. This will help you get your sales teams up to speed and ensure all decisions are data-driven right from the start.
At Slintel, Sales Cloud was the first tool we added to our sales armoury. We have this saying – if it is not on Salesforce, it never happened. We ensured the solution was implemented from day one, making it possible for us to track critical historical data and our revenue growth. We love how Salesforce solutions provide a single source of truth, are customisable, and easily integrate with almost every other tool.
Finally, SMEs need to ensure their products and services solve a real problem. Once SME leaders know this, they can put the right people and processes in place to continuously improve, thrive and succeed.
Find out more about how Sales Cloud can tool your sales team with the right solutions that help them grow easily and become productive fast.
Also Read:
Empowering B2B Sales with Tech: 5 Lessons from BPCL’s Business Leaders
Meet 6 Trailblazers from India That Are Acing Sales
Infographic: 3 Tips from SME Leaders on Getting Digital Transformation Right
Top Sales Reps are Built Differently: 12 Habits of Successful Salespeople Your Sales Team Can Adopt
