On today's episode of The Sales Evangelist, we talk with Kris Nelson, head of sales for CoSchedule.com, about how businesses can move from "click, try, buy" to having a full-fledged sales team. CoSchedule is a SaaS-based marketing platform that helps marketers to stay organized through a combination of content calendar, a product, project management solutions and execution via social campaigns and email campaigns. CoSchedule took the time to focus on true growth and the company has seen tremendous results. Prior to reaching that point, however, the business, which began as a "click, try and buy," didn’t even have a sales team. When "click, try, and buy" works Initially, they released the product as a straightforward "click, try and buy," product because it made sense at the time. They also designed it for small teams and individuals. The level of product and the price point didn’t really dictate a need for a dedicated sales team. [01:26] As the product progressed and became more complicated, however, it became apparent that they needed a sales team to help the clients really understand how CoSchedule could benefit them. It was simply a natural progression to establish a sales force as the product grew and the price point increased, especially with some of the advanced plans. They moved away from the "click, try and buy," and toward a professional marketing team and into a standard sales cycle. [03:17] Bringing whiskey to a Kool-Aid party I’ve always thought it was a waste of time and resources to have the sales reps focus on low-end sales, think $15 a month kind of stuff because customers don’t need help making a decision at the price point. Higher end products are different. Companies who ask customers to pay more become more concerned with the quality of the product, and that's when you need a sales team. It is truly an overkill to engage someone in a formalized, professional sales cycle at some of the lower price points. At the higher price points, it makes total sense. You have to be sure you are asking the right questions of the organization to make sure your product is a fit. The sale is nice but long-term happy customers are the true goal. [04:25] Move toward a sales force Kris credits CEO and co-founder of CoSchedule, Garrett Moon, as the person who helped take the company where it is today. It began with a series of phone calls to prospects to see if the market was viable and to see if it made sense to move the price point. Once that was established as true, Moon hired more people, including Kris, and the sales process was on its way. [05:58] Kris says that CoSchedule is still an extremely heavy inbound model. They still decide the best fit for each client, whether that be the "click, try and buy," model for the lower level plans, or working with a sales rep for the higher level plans. Kris really had to learn and understand the buying process of the companies that use CoSchedule to determine how many real touch points would be needed from a sales standpoint to be effective. Three-call process CoSchedule has a three-call process in place now. The first, known as the discovery call, allows the sales team to learn more about the client’s business, teach them about CoSchedule and then try to determine at a really high level if there is a potential business fit. If everything matches from a budget standpoint and a use case standpoint, they move forward with the second call. The second call is a full-scale demonstration of the product. It...

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