6 Benefits of a Founder Led Sales Strategy

As a founder, you have a special relationship with your product or service. After all, you were there at its 'birth', right? You know everything there is to know about your unique value proposition, your sales pitch, and hopefully your target market, too. So when it comes to forming a killer sales process, who better to lead it than you, the founder?

One man with as much experience in founder led sales as it's possible to get is Lloyed Lobo. His unconventional entry into the world of entrepreneurship and sales operations, from Gulf War refugee to trailblazing Boast Co-founder, has given him a deep understanding of early stage sales efforts and the value of a founder led sales process. As always, Leadium was thrilled to sit down with him and learn from his experience.

So if you're an early stage startup founder - or a founder of any kind - looking to revolutionize your sales process, gain a competitive edge, and secure that all-important initial revenue growth, read on; we're exploring, with expert insight, the main benefits of a founder led sales process for your business strategy.

What is a founder led sales process?

Picture this: you're looking to buy or invest in a product or service, for which there are two competitors offering basically the same thing. One salesperson knows the facts, but can't answer all of your questions; in fact, they've never even used the product. The other knows the product like the back of their hand, is enthusiastic about fulfilling your needs, and will continue building relationships even after the sale has been made. Which will you buy from?

That's the difference between founder led sales and sales process from which the founder is distant. With founder led sales, it's all about the founder - the person with both the best knowledge of the product or service and the best attitude toward it - taking the reigns of the sales process. Basically, the founder takes the role of a sales rep.

And it pays off, too: Reuters recently found that founder led tech companies have seen around 30% growth over the past five years, whereas tech companies run by other managers have seen just 6.7% growth. If that isn't incentive enough, we don't know what is!

Of course, founder led sales are more common in early stage startups, when budgets might be tight and employees thin on the ground. In that case, a founder may join the sales process out of pure necessity. But other, more established companies use a founder led sales strategy, too. Take Leadium, for instance, who've remained boutique, meaning that our founders can still take a leading role in the sales process.

This strategy isn't just about cutting costs; there are many significant benefits to a founder led sales process. Let's take a look:

Finding founder led sales success

Lloyed's early experience in startup sales gave him keen insight into the value of a founder led sales process. Join us as we explore some of his thoughts in depth.

Show your passion

It goes without saying that startup founders are the most zealous advocates for their product or service, and this can really make the difference when it comes to bagging those first few sales. After all, enthusiasm is contagious. A compelling sales pitch delivered by a passionate founder will not only draw potential customers in, but will create a 'buzz' around your product, driving revenue growth and securing better value proposition exposure. Plus, enthusiasm will motivate your sales team.

Get direct customer feedback

It's critical for founders to be at the forefront of customer interaction. Not only does this help to convince potential customers of your authenticity, but it'll help you gain valuable insights into your customers' pain points, preferences, and needs - all valuable commodities when shaping a go to market strategy and establishing that all-important product market fit.

What's more, getting direct customer feedback enables continuous learning, so your company can shape future development around your customer expectations.

Build long-lasting relationships

Founders can play an instrumental role in long-term sales success and advocacy by building relationships with early customers. The 'personlized' element of founder led sales can turn satisfied customers into loyal customers, who'll not only stick with you throughout but who'll help you reach your target audience through positive customer feedback and word-of-mouth advocacy.

Shorten sales cycles

With your passionate, knowledgeable founders at the heart of the sales process, potential customers are more likely to respond to your value proposition and ultimately make a purchase faster. Not only is this great for your sales team and sales reps, but it'll give you a strong base of existing customers - not to mention the market research opportunities - with which to woo further investors and demonstrate your credibility.

A great founder led sales strategy, with founders meeting prospective customers and making sales calls, will increase customer satisfaction and help with closing deals more quickly.

Foster a more agile sales process

When founders are too distant from their customer feedback - and therefore their sales process - it can take a long time to implement necessary product or sales process changes. That's because queries and suggestions have to be sent up through the chain of command for approval.

You can sidestep this issue - and gain a competitive advantage in the process - with founder led sales: with founders personally handling customer interaction, they'll get first-hand insight into pain points and needs in those early stages, and will be able to pivot messaging, adjust buyer personas, and establish a better product market fit without having to consult anyone.

Exploit deep understanding of product or service

Who knows a value proposition better than the founder? Their deep personal knowledge of the product or service will set them apart as sales reps, allowing them to hook potential customers and tailor solutions to specific customer needs. And customers will appreciate this, leading to better sales performance and ultimately driving a company's growth.

Lloyed's four pillars of founder led sales success

We've explored some of the main benefits of a founder led sales strategy. Now, let's look at the four 'C's - Lloyed's 'recipe' for founder led sales success:

1. Community‍
   
   • Lloyed emphasizes the need for founders to be surrounded by the right people. As he put it: if he hadn't spent so much time gaining first-hand experience with startup founders early on, he wouldn't have been able to find his own success later on.‍
2. Communication‍
   
   • Your ability to communicate is everything; whether that's communicating with your sales team, your investors, your target audience, or your partner, powerful communication skills are at the heart of the founder led sales process.‍
3. Creativity‍
   
   • At every opportunity, create. Although we don't always think of the sales process as creative, Lloyed points out that building an effective sales strategy is actually all about creating: you'll spend hours, days, weeks creating playbooks, creating frameworks, creating a better product. Use your creativity to achieve an agile founder led sales strategy.‍
4. Consistency‍
   
   • How many times have you read 'consistency is key,' right? Well, it's true. Without consistency, all your other founder led sales efforts go to waste. No one will hear your incredible communication, no one will see your ground-breaking creativity, no on will recognize your community, if you're not consistent with your sales process.

How to master the founder led sales strategy

So, there you have it: six benefits of a founder led sales process and Lloyed's four 'C's for founder success. The evidence shows that getting serious about founder led sales as a go to market strategy really does pay off - not only financially, but with regards to long-term growth and customer loyalty, too. By putting your knowledge, passion, and communication skills at the forefront of your sales process, and by establishing a culture of continuous learning through market research and feedback, you get set your business apart and start closing deals.

If you're keen to know more about sales strategy and business growth, you can find Lloyed on LinkedIn. And don't forget: Leadium's blog has a ton of other handy articles on all things lead generation and sales development, so head over there to get all the latest tips and tricks.