Startup Sales Execution
Practical playbooks to turn interest into revenue: run discovery, qualify deals, close cleanly, and drive expansion without breaking trust or economics.
When to Use
- You need a founder-led sales motion that actually closes (not just "leads")
- Discovery calls, qualification, objection handling, or pricing conversations
- Building a pipeline with stages, exit criteria, and weekly deal review cadence
- Proposals, mutual action plans, procurement/security handling
- Renewals/expansion motion (especially in B2B SaaS)
- BD outreach, partner deal negotiation, co-selling execution
When NOT to Use
- Lead capture, demand gen, meeting booking -> marketing-leads-generation
- Pricing model design, unit economics -> startup-business-models
- GTM strategy and channel selection -> startup-go-to-market
- Onboarding/support systems -> startup-customer-success
Quick Start (Inputs)
Ask for the minimum set of inputs that makes sales advice concrete:
- Product: what it does, setup time, and “first value” moment
- ICP: buyer, champion, typical deal size (ACV/ARPA), sales cycle expectations
- Motion: PLG, sales-led, hybrid (who does what, when)
- Current state: current pipeline, win/loss notes, objections heard, pricing page link (if any)
- Constraints: legal/security requirements, procurement friction, implementation/services required
If inputs are missing, proceed with explicit assumptions and ask for 1 example deal (won/lost) to anchor.
Workflow
- Define the sales motion and handoffs
- Who qualifies (founder/SDR), who closes (founder/AE), who onboards (CS/product).
- Decide the primary close path: demo-first, trial-first, or audit/assessment-first.
- Set pipeline stages with exit criteria
- Use
assets/pipeline-stages.mdto define stages and “done means done” criteria. - Keep stages few and behavioral (what the buyer did), not internal hope.
- Run discovery that produces a decision
- Use
references/discovery-playbook.mdandassets/discovery-call-script.md. - Output: a clear problem statement, impact, stakeholders, and next step.
- Qualify with one framework (and actually use it)
- Use
references/qualification-and-deal-review.md. - Output: a deal summary that predicts close probability and exposes gaps early.
- Price and propose with guardrails
- Use
assets/proposal-outline.md. - Keep discounting rules explicit (who can approve, for what, and why).
- Handle procurement and negotiation without “random concessions”
- Use
references/negotiation-and-procurement.md. - Default posture: trade concessions for commitment (term length, volume, case study, prepay).
- Close with a mutual action plan (MAP)
- Use
assets/mutual-action-plan.md. - MAP turns “sounds good” into calendar-bound steps with owners.
- Drive expansion with usage + outcomes (not pressure)
- Define expansion triggers (seats, usage, additional teams, compliance).
- Coordinate with startup-customer-success for retention-first expansion.
- Run BD outreach and partner deals (when applicable)
- BD discovery differs from direct sales: focus on mutual value and long-term alignment, not pain selling.
- Qualify partners with
assets/partner-deal-scorecard.md: audience fit, technical compatibility, incentive alignment, champion access. - Structure deals explicitly: rev share, referral fees, integration commitments, co-sell SLAs, exit terms.
- BD negotiation is relationship-first: trade exclusivity for commitment, volume for better terms, co-marketing for access.
- Maintain a separate BD pipeline from direct sales (different stages, longer cycles, different success metrics).
- For partner strategy and program design: see startup-go-to-market.
- For detailed BD execution patterns: see
references/bd-execution-playbook.md.
- Install a weekly operating cadence
- Pipeline review (30 min): stage hygiene + next steps.
- Deal review (30 min): top 3 deals + one stuck deal (diagnose gap).
- Win/loss (30 min): one deal, one lesson, one change to the playbook.
Metrics (Minimum Viable Sales Analytics)
- Pipeline created per week (by channel)
- Stage conversion rates and time-in-stage
- Win rate by segment (ICP) and by deal size band
- Median sales cycle length
- Discount rate and reasons
- Expansion rate (if applicable)
Resources
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| discovery-playbook.md | How to run discovery and produce a next-step decision |
| qualification-and-deal-review.md | Qualification frameworks and deal review templates |
| objection-handling.md | Objection patterns by stage, price objections, competitor responses |
| negotiation-and-procurement.md | Procurement, security, negotiation, and redline handling |
| bd-execution-playbook.md | BD outreach, partner deal terms, co-selling coordination, BD pipeline |
| sales-metrics-and-forecasting.md | Pipeline metrics, velocity formula, forecasting methods, board reporting |
| sales-enablement-content.md | Sales collateral, battlecards, case studies, demo scripts, content tracking |
| crm-pipeline-setup.md | CRM selection, pipeline stages, fields, automation, reporting dashboards |
| demo-methodology.md | Demo types, 3-story framework, multi-stakeholder demos, metrics |
Templates
| Template | Purpose |
|---|---|
| pipeline-stages.md | Stages, exit criteria, and definitions |
| discovery-call-script.md | Talk track + question flow |
| proposal-outline.md | Proposal structure and pricing terms |
| mutual-action-plan.md | MAP for closing and onboarding handoff |
| partner-deal-scorecard.md | Partner qualification and deal evaluation |
Data
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| sources.json | Sales references |
What Good Looks Like
- You can explain “why buy, why now, why us” in one paragraph per deal.
- Each pipeline stage has a buyer action and a next step scheduled.
- Negotiation trades are explicit (concession for commitment), not reactive discounts.
- You know your bottleneck (top-of-funnel vs close vs onboarding friction) from numbers, not vibes.