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News from Members 3 key elements for sustainable growth as a start-up

3 key elements for sustainable growth as a start-up

March 23, 2018



Author: Gabriela Streza, Business Development Director, Valoria
Every day there are hundreds of startups being born. Some of them are lucky and get quickly successful in the market. Consequently, they decide rather early to hire more sales agents than the normal business development cycle. Why not? The demand is big and needs to be served.

But this approach skips through several important phases of growth and can permanently affect the company's performance. So, before you build up the sales force, it's good to make sure your sales strategy is repeatable, profitable and scalable. Here are three steps you can consider for accomplishing this goal.

1. Phase out the growth of the company
Each entrepreneur should consider certain phases/stages of his company's development. It is important to follow clearly and trace out the progress from one stage to another based on a plan. Measure all that can be measured, especially in sales: number of presentations sent, number of meetings held, number of rejections, number of contracts concluded. If the business is online, statistics from Google Analytics will prove to be of great help. Develop a fully-funded roadmap that will allow you to plan ahead of time the resources needed to move on to the next stage without any negative impact on cash, team or business.

2. Learn to manage the risk
Risk reduction indicates a healthy growth. Any company attribute that reduces risk to investors or customers is welcome. For example, as an entrepreneur you should communicate biannually the growth in number of customers or other company performance data. You also communicate relevant plans to open new customer segments or geographic market segments. This information will show potential investors that you know how to manage difficult times or to take advantage of the potential of the market.


3. Use the buyer persona
Identifying the ideal customer profile (buyer persona) will take some time. But this step will lead the business to sustainable growth and loyal customers. In order to identify the buyer persona, it is good to sell only to a few target segments. Once you understand the ideal client profile you will be able to select a repeatable, profitable and scalable way to sell. It is very important to understand the issues that each target customer segment solves by choosing to buy the product or service you are.

In conclusion
No business exists without customers (B2B or B2C). The essential process of an entrepreneurial business, beyond the production of a product or service, is to sales process. If the production part of the product or service is perfectly set up, but nothing is being sold, the business will not survive for too long. Therefore, the three key elements above are to be considered in order to successfully start a sustainable entrepreneurial business.

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About the author
Gabriela Streza has over 15 years of experience in marketing and business development teams of major multinational companies and family businesses in Romania, leaders in their fields of activity. Gabriela graduated from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest and has a solid expertise in marketing, communication and business development during hundreds of successfully managed projects Gabriela also has a broad knowledge of public relations and high-quality professional communication in interpersonal communications, organizations and event management to generate awareness of the company's brand and business development.. In recent years he has coordinated complex marketing and business development projects involving Romanian entrepreneurs, non-profit associations and multinational companies.

About Valoria
Valoria Business Solutions is a company providing training, consulting and executive coaching services. The company's mission is to transform the potential of teams and organizations into value. Competence, confidence, innovation and passion are the values that sustain us in everything we do. We believe in people, in their aspiration for personal and professional fulfillment, and their willingness to accelerate their potential. Learn more about us at: www.valoria.ro

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