Key Steps in Sales and Marketing for Startups

TRY...SUCCEED...REPEAT

Amit GroverNurture Talent Academy

www.twitter.com/amitgrover

Sales is like a bicycle, keep pedalling or you will fall down!

Start with personal branding

When you do not have a brand, you are the brand

• Use online social media to build your personal brando Write a personal blog (blogger.com is free and useful)o Connect all social networks with your blog(use IFTTT.com)o Use a standard professional photo and profile

• Take up speaking assignments in events and forums

• Once you quote about an issue in any media, other journalists start approaching you

• Volunteer for your industry initiatives – be a thought leader

• Most importantly – take sides! Don’t be a diplomat!

Online and Offline Forums for Startups

• Build your presence and image across forumso Headstarto YEDGo Rodinhoodo Open Coffee Clubo www.meetup.com/startup-yatrao TIEo NENo Nasscom

• Be known for 1 or 2 words – that’s brand recall!

What we think students want?

KnowledgeSkill BuildingLearn new technologiesFree educationHigh quality

What students really want?

CertificateExamsEntertainment in educationFreedom from boring classesOpportunity to bunk classes

What customers really want?

We started with doing training without bells and whistles

And then started adding bells and whistles!

• Who are you – individual, family, group or corporate?• What is your age?• What is your sex?• Where do you stay?• What is your problem?• How much will you be willing to pay for solution?• How many times will you use the solution?• When do you want the solution?• Where do you want the solution?• How are you solving the problem right now?

10 queries for customer identification

Nurture Talent targeted student consumers by partnering with likes of IIMs for business training and Computer Society of India for technology training

Partnerships take time to establish but beware of vested interests or bored decision makers. They are time killers.

Build Partnerships that matter

Make sure that partners are equal or complementary.

50 : 50 is the only deal that really works in India.

Use Campus Ambassadors to spread word among youth

Some Memories of our trainings

Year 295 workshops4300 customers40 cities

Measure your metrics

Align your metrics with your vision.

Be mad about metrics.

Year 137 workshops660 customers14 cities

Year 3196 workshops10000+ customers85 cities

Year 4312 workshops24000 customers100+ cities

Marketing is not an expense, it is a necessity.

Analyse Failures

Keeping customers is profitable compared to acquiring customers.

Think of higher end product versions. Keep moving up the value chain.

Put your best team members into sales –everything else will happen.

Details matter –highlight each and every small part of your offering.

What investors look for in a Marketing plan?

• Key target segments, size of each segment, growth rates

- A visual representation is better

• How efficiently can the consumer be reached? How quickly?

- Will they stick and repeat their purchases?- What is the cost of sales?

• What is the sales cycle?- Any key partnerships or alliances

• How will competitors react? How will you react to their reactions?

• What are the other opportunities? Is there a product roadmap?

What is the difference?

98% of their DNA is the same

Amit GroverNurture Talent Academy

www.twitter.com/amitgrover

Thank You!