Sales isn’t a department: it’s a culture

Tech founders often focus on building the perfect product, assuming sales is just a function they can hire for later. But the most successful startups know that sales isn’t just a department, it’s a core part of company culture. A strong sales-driven culture ensures that every team member, from engineering to marketing, understands their role in bringing value to customers. In this masterclass, we explore why embedding sales into your startup’s DNA from day one is key to long-term success, and why founders should be the first to lead the charge.

The link between success, corporate culture and sales

More often than not we get this message from company founders that are struggling to commercialize their product or service: “We need to find a good sales person.” This is almost always the wrong answer to the right question. The issue is clear: sales success is key for the survival and growth of the company. The road to success is not always that clear. In the dynamic world of young tech companies, the interplay between corporate culture, sales, and overall success is crucial. Often, startups in general and emerging tech firms concentrate heavily on product development and technological innovation. They are inadvertently overlooking the vital role that a robust sales strategy and culture play in their growth and sustainability. However, the most successful tech companies understand that integrating a strong sales focus into their corporate culture is essential for achieving long-term success. And this starts with the company founding team taking full responsibility for sales. Corporate Culture and Sales Integration It is obvious that corporate culture is the bedrock upon which a company’s success is built. As already discussed, it encompasses the shared values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours that define how a company operates. When a tech company establishes a culture that integrates sales as a core component, it creates a synergistic environment where every part of the organization works towards a common goal: delivering value to customers and driving revenue growth.

The importance of sales in driving success

Sales are the lifeblood of any company, everywhere and definitely in the highly competitive tech industry. A strong sales function is crucial for revenue generation, market penetration, and customer acquisition. For young tech companies, establishing a robust sales strategy early on can significantly impact their ability to scale and compete in the market. Sales people are the direct link between the company’s offerings and the market. They gather critical feedback from customers, providing valuable insights that can inform product development and strategic decisions. This feedback loop is vital for young tech companies that need to iterate quickly and adapt to market demands. By integrating sales into the corporate culture, tech companies can ensure that they remain agile and responsive to customer needs. Building a Sales-Driven Culture Creating a sales-driven culture involves a lot more than just hiring a competent sales team. It requires embedding sales principles into the very fabric of the organization. This means ensuring that all employees, from engineering to marketing, understand and support the sales process. A sales-driven culture promotes collaboration across departments, with each team understanding how their work contributes to the company’s sales goals. In the early stages of a tech startup, the first and best sales people are the founders themselves. They will be the ideal advocates of what the company has to offer. They are the only ones with the in-depth knowledge of what the company does. On top of that, they are responsible for setting the right example to the rest of the company. “But I am not a sales person…” a lot of tech founders say initially. The opposite is true - of course they are! It is their responsibility to get in front of the prospective customer and use the combination of knowledge, drive and enthusiasm to gain the confidence and trust of the prospects and turn them into valuable customers. Overcoming Challenges and Leveraging Opportunities For young tech companies, integrating sales into the corporate culture presents both challenges and opportunities. One of the main challenges is ensuring that the sales function is seen as an integral part of the company’s mission rather than an isolated function. Overcoming this challenge requires strong leadership and clear communication about the importance of sales in achieving the company’s goals. Conclusion The link between corporate culture, a strong focus on sales, and overall success is evident in the stories of many thriving tech companies. By embedding sales into the core of their culture, young tech companies can ensure that they remain customer-focused, agile, and competitive. This integration not only drives revenue growth but also fosters a cohesive, motivated workforce that is aligned with the company’s mission and values. A strong sales culture, supported by a positive corporate environment, can lead to significant market success and sustainable growth. As such, young tech companies should prioritize building a sales-driven culture to achieve their long-term objectives and thrive in the competitive tech landscape.

Jurimesh’s story: a testimonial on culture and sales

Jorrit Willaert, co-founder of Jurimesh shares his thought on the corporate culture of the company. Jurimesh is a young company, founded in 2023 by Jorrit and Jasper De Moor. Their mission is to bring Artificial Intelligence to the legal domain, helping legal teams to work faster and more accurately when navigating legal documents. Find out more at www.jurimesh.com. Here is what Jorrit has to say:

Flexible and dynamic

We are a startup, so we need to be able to switch quickly and respond to changes. Our culture is therefore very flexible and we like to experiment with new ideas. This is also important for the product we are currently developing, where we switch very quickly, depending on what we see works and what doesn’t. As the two founders are technical, we have surrounded us with a person who has in-depth legal knowledge. Having a balanced team is crucial.

Working with customers

Our customers are central. We work closely with them to understand exactly what they need and how we can best help them. This helps us to build a good relationship with them, but we also get a lot of valuable feedback.

Team building and team spirit

A close-knit team is important to us. That is why we regularly do team building activities to keep the atmosphere good and strengthen mutual trust. Think of a night out at the Ghent Festivities as an example.

Working together at the office

Although we work flexibly, we still find it important to be at the office regularly (almost daily). This allows us to bounce ideas around and brainstorm effectively, and is much more fun than working remotely all the time.

Employee guidebook

We are in the process of building an employee guidebook. Here are some excerpts:

Priority guidelines

To ensure an optimal product and team spirit we prioritise our engineering time in the following way.

1. Unblock colleagues by doing timely code reviews

2. User bugs: our application should function flawlessly, fixing bugs is of utmost importance and always has priority over any other task

3. Technical debt: if you discover any tech debt, log it or fix it instantly. Management will make time to fix this asap.

4. New features will be prioritised by management. If there’s any new feature that requires very little work it can be prioritised over larger features.

   
   

Meeting Policy

We like to keep meetings to an absolute minimum, when working on new features we might want to get a lot of feedback from colleagues, but if you feel like a meeting is useless or could be a simple e-mail or quick slack message keep it to that and don’t plan a full-fledged meeting. We also have a walk-out policy, meaning if there is a companywide meeting and you don’t find it valuable you can always just leave the meeting.

Handling feedback and giving feedback

We don’t believe in hierarchy blocking the flow of feedback and criticism. If any code or product or idea doesn’t resonate with you or seems like a bad direction/poorly implemented, speak up. This is always the case, even if you’re a fresh grad speaking up against upper management, do it. We appreciate it, we encourage it, it is what improves us beyond what we can imagine. Everyone has a unique view on things and various experiences, this is exactly what makes a team valuable. We also expect all employees of all levels to be able to handle feedback/criticism from all levels. Transparency and growth are core to our culture.

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