{"id":4309,"date":"2016-03-08T16:54:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-18T16:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=4309"},"modified":"2023-10-18T17:35:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T17:35:58","slug":"min-viable-sales-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/ca\/blog\/min-viable-sales-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Develop A Minimum Viable Sales Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Startups often face the same chicken-and-egg conundrum: they might have a great idea but aren\u2019t yet able to prove there\u2019s a market for a particular product or service. There\u2019s no way to know for sure until you have something in the market, so many of them have adopted something that sales professionals could make their own: a minimum viable product.<\/p>\n

First described as part of the \u201clean startup\u201d approach by Frank Robinson, Eric Reis and Steve Blank, the minimum viable product is best understood as follows<\/a>: <\/p>\n

A core component of Lean Startup methodology is the build-measure-learn feedback loop. The first step is figuring out the problem that needs to be solved and then developing a minimum viable product (MVP) to begin the process of learning as quickly as possible. Once the MVP is established, a startup can work on tuning the engine. This will involve measurement and learning and must include actionable metrics that can demonstrate cause and effect question.<\/i><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to work in a startup to see why MVPs are such an important tactic. It essentially means entrepreneurs can avoid wasting time on a product that will never fully take off while continuing to experiment in thoughtful ways that give them other avenues to pursue.<\/p>\n

For sales teams, strategy is often analogous to product design. You want something so rock-solid that will offer a guarantee of success. The reality, of course, is much different. Clients ask questions you weren\u2019t expecting. The touch points by which you reach them evolve or disappear. The purchase cycle gets longer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why sales managers might want to take a page from the lean startup movement by developing a sort of \u201cminimum viable sales strategy.\u201d In other words, a plan to achieve your quotas and close more deals, but with the knowledge that it will be subject to change and that those changes will bring near-immediate refinements.<\/p>\n

The Building Blocks Of A Minimum Viable Sales Strategy<\/b><\/p>\n

Some ways to start the process might include the following:<\/p>\n