When InterviewFlex fell through, I started looking for new clients. Somehow I came across an existing contact in my network who was running a business called Floatr. I messaged him and the rest was history…we knew some of the same people, he was familiar with one of my former clients in his space – one that I was very successful with. We met, he told me he had to speak with his “Commercial Sales Success” guy or whatever his title was and wanted me to speak with him. There were some candidates that the guy had in hand already, so it wasn’t a done deal.
I met GSJ via phone and we talked briefly. Because the founder was onboard with me working with them, he asked a few questions – agreed I was the right fit and the contract was done and done.
Very quickly I realized I walked into a less than ideal situation:
1. The salesguys who were there were gone in under a year and apparently “did not do anything”, they were sending emails out and not providing market feedback or creating deals.
2. The pipeline was a joke and being managed as if there were real opportunities. If someone thought the service was interesting or had a demo it was an opportunity. I had to drop out a number of “MQL/SQL” because they were dead – no further interest.
3. GSJ was a Marketing guy, not a sales guy which was super apparent. He came from big companies like Microsoft and was completely clueless on how to do “go-to-market” for a start up. He defined an MQL/Prospect as anyone who would do business and an SQL as a meeting. Suspect is anyone who is the right fit to do business with, prospect is someone where a conversation/interest is expressed, opportunity is deal defined. There was no marketing to create MQL’s!
4. The Founder was playing salesguy and handed all control over the company to “Corporate people”
5. There was no process. Process was defined as “these are the lists you will work on, we will assess the list quality, pivot if we need to, and start something else”. That is not process, that is campaign management – that isn’t go-to-market where you define the ICP, type of company/size, and develop iterative messaging to see what works – that is MY process.
6. There were meetings and discussions which continually took away from my prospecting time, then they wanted to know why I worked only a small portion of the list they gave me three days ago.
7. I hated the CRM, Close.IO, which was so cumbersome to use – and the prior people loaded it with tons of unqualified prospects….it ate up time.
8. I have significant experience in their industry….and know what works and what doesn’t work and how to solve their problems.
During the month, I gave them valuable insights to help drive messaging, was beginning to unlock leads, and started to work on solving some of the messaging/prospecting issues that were there. That was called “pushback” and not collaboration. The moron of the Chief Commercial Officer told me he would support me and work for me – but when push came to shove, it was “his way or the highway”…never respecting or considering how much industry knowledge and startup expertise I was bringing in.
I was so utterly constrained that I could not be successful. I even spoke to the Founder about that – in his role as Founder and Salesguy. He basically told me not to worry and indicated that this may go longer than the trial.
We had a meeting which was moved from Friday to Monday. I was not told about the move or asked if it worked for me. The meeting was a bit contentious as I shared feedback. I was exhausted from the weekend and could not remember who I had spoken to with respect to the pipeline and was not prepared (a fact they threw in my face later). Later that day, my email was inactive and I got the call.
I countered the Founder who bought into the lies about me not documenting in the CRM, my argumentative pushback, etc. I told him the CMO is the wrong person and that they are heading in the wrong direction. I kept the door open. A bunch of bozos who know nothing about running a business of that kind.
Let’s see if they reach out in the future. I feel a restructuring coming very soon.
I met GSJ via phone and we talked briefly. Because the founder was onboard with me working with them, he asked a few questions – agreed I was the right fit and the contract was done and done.
Very quickly I realized I walked into a less than ideal situation:
1. The salesguys who were there were gone in under a year and apparently “did not do anything”, they were sending emails out and not providing market feedback or creating deals.
2. The pipeline was a joke and being managed as if there were real opportunities. If someone thought the service was interesting or had a demo it was an opportunity. I had to drop out a number of “MQL/SQL” because they were dead – no further interest.
3. GSJ was a Marketing guy, not a sales guy which was super apparent. He came from big companies like Microsoft and was completely clueless on how to do “go-to-market” for a start up. He defined an MQL/Prospect as anyone who would do business and an SQL as a meeting. Suspect is anyone who is the right fit to do business with, prospect is someone where a conversation/interest is expressed, opportunity is deal defined. There was no marketing to create MQL’s!
4. The Founder was playing salesguy and handed all control over the company to “Corporate people”
5. There was no process. Process was defined as “these are the lists you will work on, we will assess the list quality, pivot if we need to, and start something else”. That is not process, that is campaign management – that isn’t go-to-market where you define the ICP, type of company/size, and develop iterative messaging to see what works – that is MY process.
6. There were meetings and discussions which continually took away from my prospecting time, then they wanted to know why I worked only a small portion of the list they gave me three days ago.
7. I hated the CRM, Close.IO, which was so cumbersome to use – and the prior people loaded it with tons of unqualified prospects….it ate up time.
8. I have significant experience in their industry….and know what works and what doesn’t work and how to solve their problems.
During the month, I gave them valuable insights to help drive messaging, was beginning to unlock leads, and started to work on solving some of the messaging/prospecting issues that were there. That was called “pushback” and not collaboration. The moron of the Chief Commercial Officer told me he would support me and work for me – but when push came to shove, it was “his way or the highway”…never respecting or considering how much industry knowledge and startup expertise I was bringing in.
I was so utterly constrained that I could not be successful. I even spoke to the Founder about that – in his role as Founder and Salesguy. He basically told me not to worry and indicated that this may go longer than the trial.
We had a meeting which was moved from Friday to Monday. I was not told about the move or asked if it worked for me. The meeting was a bit contentious as I shared feedback. I was exhausted from the weekend and could not remember who I had spoken to with respect to the pipeline and was not prepared (a fact they threw in my face later). Later that day, my email was inactive and I got the call.
I countered the Founder who bought into the lies about me not documenting in the CRM, my argumentative pushback, etc. I told him the CMO is the wrong person and that they are heading in the wrong direction. I kept the door open. A bunch of bozos who know nothing about running a business of that kind.
Let’s see if they reach out in the future. I feel a restructuring coming very soon.