I seldom reference Mark. He's all about scaling and not about selling, but this morning he wrote something that salespeople need to know.
Here's what he wrote:
If your startup uses an annual revenue plan, you may be working with a broken model.
The truth is, annual plans don’t fit with startup-sized teams. They’re great for big business, but early-stage startups need to be able to adjust on a smaller scale.
Look at your quarterly numbers. Find your capacity and reset for the next quarter. Keep your startup agile and your revenue goals realistic.
Do you know Bob Richards? He was winning medals when I was learning how to walk. He was also a motivational speaker and in the early 70's I heard him say that salespeople should think of themselves as You, Yourself, Inc. From that day forward, in my mind, I was a company. I was responsible. I made the rules.
It worked for me.
Are you a startup? How do startups grow? Mark helps companies grow by making one good hire at a time. That doesn't help You, Yourself, Inc. You grow one customer at a time. One conversation at a time. One relationship at a time. One referral at a time. What do you want to get done before September? When you do that, then you can decide how you can use that to get what you want to get done by December.
So, are you ready to be a startup? Do you want to hang out with other people like you?