We’re 2 weeks in already!
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Mentor Madness is fully underway, and our founders are taking to the madness like champs. Jumping from one meeting room to the next for 20 minute intensive sessions could easily be daunting and exhausting. The founders are doing a great job, though, of keeping in mind the tremendous opportunities that these meetings present. A quick shout-out to our sponsors who sent over these fantastic mentors this week:
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Kristi Montgomery, VP of Innovation at Kenco Group
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Matt McLelland, Innovation Research Manager at Kenco Group
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Jackie Bailey, Corporate Logistics and Transportation at Cargill
- Lisa Coca, MD at GE Ventures
On top of the meetings with mentors, we hosted a learning session on the oh-so-important topic of sales- because if you aren’t selling, you aren’t doing anything. Chad Eichelberger, President at Reliance Partners, and Jason Provonsha, CSO at Steam Logistics, shared the sales wisdom they’ve gained through helping grow Access America Transport and through their current endeavors.
Some key takeaways include:
- Be a human. It’s easy to get in a routine and come across robotic and disingenuous. The more human you are in your approach to sales, the more willing someone is going to be to talk to you.
- Spend time practicing. When you finally get someone on the phone, you don’t want to blow that opportunity. This is why you should prepare. How?
- Write a script: To ensure that your nerves don’t get the best of you, write down your pitch. This allows you to curate the tone and language you want to use to get across your message in the most meaningful way.
- Role play with a coworker: Have your coworker pretend he/she is on the other end of your sales call. This will feel awkward. Know that. But the awkwardness will fade, and then you will be able to see how your pitch lands and realize potential questions that may arise. Seriously. Do this.
- Maintain a continuous pipeline. Particularly with small companies that don’t have a dedicated sales team, it’s easy for the sales pipeline to get away from you and dry up. Don’t let this happen. Make sure you are always putting energy towards maintaining your pipeline. If sales stop, you’re in trouble.
- Hit reply to everything. Even if you get a rejection, always reply with an email. Say thanks and include a final reminder of what you’re offering and why your company is the perfect solution to their problem. So few people actually do this that it will stand out and may get you the deal- or at least another chance.
- Always prepare for the rebuttals. Don’t assume you’re going to go in and blow their minds and get the yes. Try to anticipate any rebuttal or question they may have, and have a compelling response.
We also had our first happy hour this week. Every Thursday evening Dynamo hears from a strong founder and then heads to a happy hour hosted by a local organization or company. This week, our teams heard from Ted Alling about his story through Access America and Lamp Post Group. Our teams then went to The Chambliss Startup Social with Gigtank. Fun times.
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And finally, to close off this week, several of our founders are joining members of the Dynamo team on a whitewater rafting trip tomorrow. It should be a hilarious, slightly terrifying adventure. I’ll post pictures. If I survive. (I’m genuinely nervous.)
Ok. That’s week 2. I’ll be back next Friday with a recap of what week 3 brings.
There’s lots of ways to learn more about Dynamo and the companies going through our accelerator program, including:
- Our weekly podcast where we feature Dynamo founders and their stories
- Our newsletter that gives a bi-weekly account on major events in the logistics, transportation and supply chain industries
- The Dynamo twitter account, @thisisdynamo, where we share updates on all the things, chat with our followers, and share interesting news that we find
- Our Instagram (@thisisdynamo), where we feature badass logistics technologies and give you an inside look at Dynamo life
- And of course, you can email us at hello@hellodynamo!
We’re everywhere. So say hi!
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