You have a plan, you execu­te but the results (such as sales) are not the­re. What’s the problem? Bad sales­guy, so fire him and hire a new one ins­tead? Or could the problem be a more fun­da­men­tal one: is your plan wrong, or more preci­se­ly, the assump­tions your plan is based on are wrong?

Result = plan x execu­tion. It’s not always obvious which one is wrong. Both could be. But for star­tups struggling with sales, the big­gest issue is typical­ly not about sales execu­tion (it might be subop­ti­mal, but not the root cause). It is like­ly to be a product/market fit issue. Or even more fun­da­men­tal, problem/solution fit issue. If the­re is no real oppor­tu­ni­ty, not even the best sales­guy can get a deal. 

In most cases, rat­her than rota­te through a num­ber of sales­per­sons, you should go back to your basic assump­tions about the mar­ket, cus­to­mers, their needs and expec­ted beha­viour. You pro­bably have mis­sed somet­hing. Learn from your expe­ri­ments, adjust and then try again. 

Gorilla Capital Management Oy

VAT 2827907-4

Maria 01, Building 1, entrance B
Lapinlahdenkatu 16, 00180 Helsinki

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