Sales as a Core Competency in Your Company

Here is a short overview of how a SaaS company should manage and track opportunities through the different stages in their pipeline. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sales-opportunity-stages-saas...

For people who come to the comments first -

There's literally nothing in this article. It's a whole bunch of words put together giving the impression of making sense while doing nothing.

I keep wondering how these get to the front page at all!

I don't think more successful sales efforts are so _you can more effectively predict incoming revenue._

I think the most successful is so you can move beyond what is predictable.

To build a technology company,

What I like to have is a product or service that sells itself and can be launched with a simple awareness campaign.

Then build an organization which is sustainable meeting the organic or inherent demand, consisting of only the most persuasive advocates from top to bottom, only possible because of their deep involvement with the product.

At this point you're selling all you can make because everyone's effort is rising to meet the demand that is calling.

A dedicated sales group performing only persuasive advocacy at this point can be counter-productive.

They are supposed to be busy taking orders and delighting customers/clients with delivery of product.

All ouside contact with the organization is always with staff having a more advocating nature than normally encountered, underlyingly more persuasive too but with appropriately limited implementation compared to sales outreach. More well coached and on the same page than a dedicated sales group would even have. You don't want every contact to feel uncomfortable because everyone in the company is always trying to sell them something, especially when everyone is. You want contacts to feel good about the enthusiasm and attention they encounter by staff who are not even trying to take their order, and build anticipation for a rewarding transfer to Sales whenever the time may be right.

Organic demand can take you very far or it can have limitations that might be good to overcome.

Since you're always selling all you can make, it can be tempting to scale up and make more.

Depending on ambition, that is when you need a marketing approach more dedicated to persuasive advocacy, and now empowered with dealmaking abiliity. When you can finally make more than you can sell.

It's common to double production scale but then you need sales efforts that can double the company.

But all the company's effort might have gone into doubling production.

An oustide sales group should be highly feasible financially, but will never have the upside potential compared to when your longest-term deep advocates are running that show.

To build a sales company,

I like to have an unlimited reliable supply of products or services that sell themselves.

Genuine Question, and not meant to be snarky. Who is getting value from a post like this? Considering it is on the front page.

That's it?