Sometimes I wonder if the Norwegian entrepreneurs are allergic to selling and prefer to innovate and write business plans. Time and again I see they have written wonderful plans but has done very little get in touch with the market through sales. I think that first have to sell your product / service before you spend too much time and energy on developing and writing business plans. Time is a precious resource = money and many times it is possible with simple means to accelerate time to market and through feedback from real costumers make a product and service that the market really wants.

Here are some examples;
Case A: I received a visit from some friendly people with an idea I liked. When I heard that they had spent one and half years to write the business plan and had not spoken to a single customer, I was literally ill. I asked if it was ok that I called to a potential customer that maybe would be interested. It took me a few minutes to find a candidate and called up and drove a short 3 min pitch. They were enthusiastic and wanted to have a meeting and they did not only became not only became a customer but would also finance part of product development and to be a contributor in the process.

Case B: I always use to say that it is good to have a draft contract/letter of intent lying in the cloud if you are looking for customers or investors. I’ve done it several times myself and it speeds up the process. Sometimes in meetings it is a “turning point” where the hot prospect says “this is interesting and we would like to more into this”. That’s when you pull out a LOI (letter of intent) and starts to sell it and close it at the spot. Ones we had 34 meetings during 7 days at a stretch in Eastern Europe and come home with 22 LOI. This was also the turning point to raise 4.5 million in seed funding.

The Gründernes Hus (The Entrepreneurs House in Oslo) we will have a focus on sales and acceleration of the process to get to market. We will also use our global network and expertise in providing more firepower to kick-start the growth. We are in process a roadmap that we will be complete during the summer, but already have 4 companies one they way into the system and many more in screening and pipeline. Official opening of the 3rd floor Akselrator are at the same time as the official opening of the 1360 m2 house. We have not written a business plan so fare – just taken action and focused on business and has sold close to 100% of what we have on sale so far. Soon we start to sell memberships for Kafékontoret (Coworking space in the 1st floor). It’s just to get ready if you want to be a part of a great environment.

Finally, I want you to watch this video that is just fantastic in relation to this subject. I got tipped off by Niklas Lerner in Rbel Growth Recruitment Group AS at the 2 floor working with recruitment of sales personnel for growth companies. He will soon post at this site one sales strategy etc. in a few days.

Sell Sell Sell from Cisco Capital EasyLease on Vimeo.
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