One of the pitfalls for start-up founders is to get distracted by new shiny things.  This could also be known as shiny object syndrome. This essentially means you see a new tactic, strategy, or target market and change right away. I had a client where we would agree on a sales strategy and when we met two weeks later they had abandoned that strategy and had started on a new strategy.  They would not be able to measure success or progress as they were constantly changing their plan.  I am not against changing your plan, but be careful of changing too quickly or too frequently.  Here are a few suggestions to help you through the new shiny things challenge.

Have a plan

You should have a sales plan in place to help guide your sales strategy and tactics. That plan should have things like ideal customer profile, steps in the sales process, messaging for outbound, and tools you plan to use.  Stick with the plan and measure against it. You put thought into the plan, give it a chance to succeed. 

Don’t make decisions on one data point

You may come across a new shiny thing in the form of  an opportunity that makes you rethink a part of your sales plan.  This could be a new ideal customer profile.  It is great to explore that opportunity, but be careful about making a big change based on one data point. There may be something unique about that company. If you get a few inbound leads from that ideal customer profile, then you may have something and should explore that new or updated  ideal customer profile.

Try experiments

We like to try new tool experiments on a regular basis.  Recently there have been lots of new sales and marketing tools using AI. For our most recent yearly  plan each team member tried a different tool over the space of a couple months.  Most of the tools disappointed, but we really did like a tool called Jasper and we have since incorporated it into our sales and marketing stack. This is a much better strategy than jumping into a bunch of new tools.

Update your plan

You can make a few changes to your sales plan for the year, but I suggest doing a deeper dive on a yearly basis.  When you update the plan, include your team members in that process. Look to data to support your decisions.  There should be multiple data points available to make changes. It could mean implementing a new AI tool or doubling down on an existing vertical. The updated plan could include a few new shiny things.

If you would like some help creating  or updating your sales plan please connect with me.