Early-stage business looks different than established operations. It’s conceivable that you were a one-person show as a founder, and that probably included some founder-led selling. Most founders don’t start out with a natural affinity for sales, however, and instead have to learn to be good at it.
The truth is that founder-led selling isn’t a sustainable growth strategy for any business. A founder’s passion for their product or service may drive growth for some time, but not forever. This guide covers five ways that moving away from founder-led selling can add value to your business.
Burnout is unfortunately common among founders. One primary cause is taking on too much responsibility, which throws off their work-life balance. Founders who engage in founder selling have double the responsibility, performing multiple employees’ job functions by trying to scale their business while also making sales. Having a team of dedicated sales professionals do your selling for you will allow you to focus on scaling strategies instead of spending time nurturing leads and trying to close sales.
There are a few reasons why founder-led selling isn’t scalable. There’s the obvious culprit of founder-led burnout driven by taking on too much responsibility. Then there are other aspects, such as:
When you add team members, you not only reap the benefits of expanding networking opportunities by being able to access their networks but also get their skill sets, training, and expertise. Diversifying your team brings with it diversity of thought – and everyone can use a fresh perspective sometimes.
Defining “success” is instrumental in developing a vision for your business. Deciding whether it is more important to amass wealth or be in control is crucial. If you find that your definition means controlling the company, you’d likely be best suited for a situation where you already have the skills, contacts, and funds you need. Founders who want their business to serve as pathways to wealth should be open-minded about ideas, depend on others to manage certain aspects, and invest in a sales team.
A desire to be in control may cause founders to make decisions that sacrifice potential financial gains. Studies have shown that entrepreneurs typically make as much money as they would have as employees – even less when risk is accounted for. This is because their emotional attachment to their ventures can cause result in decisions – such as turning down investors that would become stakeholders and eventually share in control of the company – that decrease their capacity for financial gain.
Not every founder wants to stay in the exact business they’ve created forever. Some might be one-and-done entrepreneurs who build something and then want to eventually cash out. Others might have multiple business ideas and want to move onto the next once they get one up and running.
If you want to build a business with the hopes of someday selling it, engaging in a model reliant on founder-led selling can be detrimental to that end goal. By now you’ve probably realized that having all of the business value tied up in one person doesn’t make sense and isn’t conducive to sustainable growth. It would be a high-risk acquisition for someone looking to buy a profitable venture if all of its value is in or dependent on you – no matter how profitable your business is.
Here’s another fact to keep in mind: A Harvard Business Review study found that the majority of founders transitioned out of a management role before their companies ever went public. That means founder-CEOs like Apple’s Steve Jobs or Microsoft’s Bill Gates are exceptional, not the rule.
Making the decision to move away from founder-led selling can be difficult, but it’s inevitable – and a giant benefit – if you’re looking to scale your business. Building a sales team from scratch can be challenging, but the team at MetaGrowth Ventures is here to help. We put decades of experience to work for you by offering solutions-based sales consulting to help you get massive growth with minimal investment.
If you’re ready to have an amazing team of top-performing sales professionals do your selling for you, contact us today. We’ll help you build a world-class sales team, train them for you, and memorialize your company training so you can ditch the daily grind of “founder selling” and focus on what matters: your scaling strategy.