THE $1M – $100M SECRET. ADDING TOP-DOWN SALES.
It’s not for everyone. Why do I love it?
Top-down sales are one of the most important inflection points in a startup’s life.
Tech startups doing this have a massive impact on growth — with only an elite few who have taken this path successfully in the past 5-10 years.
A question here: where do we make more money, selling bottom-up, or top-down?
Most startups know when you sell to the top it’s more advantageous.
Yes, the bottom is easier but doesn’t yield anywhere near the result.
IF YOU ARE SELLING AT THE TOP – ITS WHERE STRATEGIES LIVE.
It’s where your solution can fit “the account’s strategic initiatives”.
Where alignment will deliver larger opportunities.
Deals here span ACV into millions from selling to CXOs.
C-Levels do big deals because their companies demand value. And their strategies require value-based solutions.
When you sell SaaS they have to have renewals.
A year later when they come up for renewal, having a CXO relationship makes the renewal much more fluid.
AT THE TOP YOU MAKE MORE SALES
It opens doors to upsells and larger cross-sells (there’s no fighting among minions to get your deals done).
Implementations also happen fasters and can make or break you; especially beginning as a POC.
Having a C-level endorsement makes things run a lot smoother.
#1 Contract sizes can be 15-25% larger.
#2 Your account relationship is more secure.
#3 Sales cycles will be 2-3X faster.
#4 Implementation can be faster.
#5 Upsells and cross-sells happen more often.
FOR EVEN MORE GROWTH THERE ARE REFERRALS
I’d rather have the referral of a C-level of a $500 M company, than three Sr. directors of larger companies.
– It’s far from easy to get to any C-Level.
It requires hyper-personalization, tuned content, & a host of executive sales skills.
WHICH IS THE BETTER MODEL?
If you cast a wide net with100+ accounts and sell a lower-cost product, then bottom-up makes sense.
You can build brand advocates that will connect you to the top. But this makes your sales cycle even longer.
If you’re talking tech, bottom-up is OK.
Bottom-up is not #1 because
#1 It produces smaller deals.
#2 You burn too much selling time on lower-yield contracts.
#3 You can not scale a startup on smaller deals.
#4 Churn rates are higher.
#5 Less personalization on account-2-monetization relationships.
I talk finance & value because to close bigger deals so I start at the top AND mine from the bottom.
Which is better? Top-down is THE better choice BUT master both & make more money.
If you want to learn more, I break this down in OUR THINKING.
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