Kevin McGirl, co-founder of sales-i

Kevin McGirl, co-founder of sales-i, explains how his business helps other firms create perfect salespeople.

Explain your business so my mum would understand it.

In the same way a caddy supports a golfer....sales-i helps salespeople to improve their sales performance. The caddy advises on: which club to play, the yards to the flag, wind direction and any hazards to avoid. All the information necessary to play the perfect shot.

Via email or text message sales-i provides information that assists salespeople in making the perfect sales call: identifying any products the customer is buying less of, highlighting associated products: “the customer buys paper but not envelopes” and identifying unprofitable product areas.

The golfer still has to make the shot and a salesperson has to make a high impact call – in both cases at least they are now fully aware of all of the facts and it is then down to their individual skill, no excuses. We charge for this sales support service on a simple subscription basis equating to £1 per salesperson per day.

Why did you start a business in the first place?

Having spent 20+ years supplying IT solutions to Manufacturing and Distribution companies we realised that Head Office functions and the needs of managers were largely catered for. But there was a massive vacuum to provide a solution to help mobile field salespeople become more effective.

Starting with a rough business plan. Literally sketched out on napkins over numerous cups of Starbucks coffee we created a vision that won universal applause from everyone we discussed it with. In true British style we tried to find reasons why it wouldn’t work – without finding the ‘excuse’ to back out we simply carried on with the ‘creation’ phase until the project seemed to develop its own momentum.

What surprised you most about starting up?

In a larger organisation there are other team members you can rely on to share the day to day workload – in a start up you have to be prepared to do absolutely everything yourselves – it is quite a culture shock and totally all encompassing (we now know the real meaning of the term 24/7).

Was there anything you would do differently now?

Start younger. I regret the wasted years working for other people.

What was your strategy at launch, and have you stuck to it?

Rather than selling to one company at a time, our strategy was to partner with key organisations that could benefit from ‘own branding’ the sales-i service to deliver value to their dealers, members, partners or franchisees. We then have a ‘one to many’ opportunity which will rapidly scale the number of subscribers to the sales-i service.

The ‘powered by sales-i’ strategy is working well and we are now looking for opportunities to introduce the concept in the USA.

What’s been your biggest hurdle or stumbling block so far?

Juggling priorities – trying to keep all of the balls in the air whilst in the tornado of an early stage business –takes great agility.

…And your luckiest moment?

We have been lucky in attracting some fantastic suppliers and advisors....who share our vision and passion for the business. When you are buried in the detail – trusted advisors can see the ‘wood for the trees’ and can identify opportunities and threats that you might not see.

Where are you now with the business?

Having proved the sales-i concept works and getting excellent testimonials from our early adopting customers...we are poised to scale the business and are recruiting across the business: in product development, sales and customer service.

What does the future have in store?

Our target market in the UK – is 300,000 companies engaged in high volume distribution. The opportunity is at least six-fold in the USA – later in 2008 we will therefore open up a sales-i operation across ‘the pond’.

What’s your best piece of advice for someone who’s about to launch?

Choose your partners wisely. A business divorce can be messier than a domestic one. Ensure you agree upfront your common agreed objectives for the business i.e. you need a ‘pre-nuptial’ agreement. Also make sure you don’t all think the same way. My business partner in sales-i, Paul Black and I have very different personalities and the combined strengths and chemistry work incredibly well.

You must all share the same work ethic. If one partner is perceived as not pulling their weight this will cause significant tension. One of you also has to be operationally strong – someone has to ensure the ‘trains run on time’ and control the cashflow.

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By LaunchLab.co.uk  on   Sep 15,2008

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Keywords

sales    America    technology    starting a business    business plan   

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