#45: The 3 Step Process We Use To Get Clients To 1 Million in ARR

#45: The 3-Step Process We Use To Get Clients To 1 Million in ARR

Read time - 3 min

Announcement
Both B2B and B2C March cohorts are now filled. Over the next two weeks, we will announce new late April/early May cohorts. Stay tuned! We are still taking on 1.1 clients in March. You can book a call with me here.

Today, I will discuss the three-step process we use to help clients reach 1 Million in ARR as quickly as possible.

The goal of our engagements is to do two things. (1) validate the hypothesis of what it is we built with our minimum viable product (MVP) and (2) find indications of product market fit (PMF) by actively asking people to buy your product. The byproduct of executing these two things will lead to finding indications or PMF and scaling to 1 million in ARR.

Achieving these outcomes is not about setting goals. It’s about building systems. The systems will help you achieve your objectives. This issue is designed to help you understand this system.

The most important thing to do if you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging.

~Warren Buffett

We’ll unpack three areas today. If you follow these closely and understand the execution behind each, you will be far ahead of the pack.

The 3 steps of the process are:

1. Theory

2. Application

3. Feedback loop

1. Theory (processes)

   Theory is about understanding the processes that need to be fleshed out at each step of the sales process, which has five steps. Let’s look at each step, and it’s objective.
   
   Step 1 = Generating consistent leads. Primary customer acquisition channels that are economical and will scale are email, LinkedIn, and content. This is by far the most important because of two reasons. (1) you need the reps and (2) without prospects to sell to, you won’t be in business for long.
   
   Step 2 = Discovery call and qualifying deals from leads into revenue opportunities. The idea of a discovery (qualification) call is to identify use cases and understand whether or not you have a solution to solve them. This is done through the BANT process.
   
   Step 3 = Demo. A demo shows the prospect how your product can solve the pain points they conveyed to you on the discovery call. It’s showing them life before and after using your product. You present pricing and propose an offer to get them onto a paid proof of concept (POC). The offer you present should be guaranteed to deliver results, and if you cannot deliver, you will refund the price of the POC. The cost should be between 5-10% of annual contract value (ACV).
   
   Step 4 = Scoping. The goal of the scoping call is to drill down on the success criteria they want to see validated during a POC. It’s designed to benchmark clear success metrics on the POC so that, at the conclusion, there is a clear path to closing the deal.
   
   Step 5 = Closing. Closing is not something that happens at the end of the POC, it is a byproduct of all the steps that precede the close being executed correctly. Once the POC has concluded and all the success metrics discussed on the scoping call have been achieved, you will be ready to close. There can be some negotiations and concerns that need to be addressed at this point. It is critical to understand how to negotiate correctly to ensure you don’t lose the deal.
   
   This is the process or theory of sales fleshed out in five steps. There’s a nuance to this process where it can be condensed or increased. It’s contingent on vertical, deal size, market and how techinical the product is. But the above process is a good rule of thumb.
   
   

2. Application (execution)
   The process is applied by going out and executing on calls. You will typically have three types of calls (maybe four): discovery, demo, and scoping. If you are selling B2C, you will also have cold calls. The idea here is building the muscle through repetition. Repetition comes from new calls generated from outbound lead generation efforts (email and LI). This is why having top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) dialed is imperative to the success of your process. You need many “at bats” to make the corrections and find indications of PMF.
   
   

3. Feedback (loop)
   The feedback loop involves recording all of your calls and reviewing them. We will tell you what you are doing right, what you are doing wrong, and what we need to do to iterate on the product based on what the market is telling us. This is how you get things dialed in quickly.

Between the theory, application, and feedback, it creates an immersive feedback loop that allows you to ramp up quickly, find indications of PMF, and begin scaling. It is a science, but most importantly, it’s a system. You have to systematize your sales efforts very early on. If you do not, I assure you that your customer acquisition cost (CAC), churn, and burn rate on cash will be very high. What I’ve shared with you here today is the antithesis of that. Apply this system. Read what a few of our clients have said about the success of this system, which is laid out in this issue here. 

That’s it for today, folks.

See you all next week!

Darren


P.S. If you’re ready to level up, you can book a call with me here.