Extra Extra
Extra Extra is a newsletter about the tactics and mindsets that drive early startup sales. I’ve helped dozens of startups get results like a 50x in repeatable revenue and a 400% lift in sales calls per week.
Breathe, stroke, flip turn
EXTRA EXTRA A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group Read in browser In the lead up to my Path to Repeatable Sales program launching on September 16th, you'll be hearing from me a little more than usual. Same hot takes about startup selling, just a little more often, for the next two weeks. Olympic athletes do not play about their mental game. So why do founders? Name an Olympic athlete. Guaranteed, they've got a kinda-out-there mental ritual that helps them perform and win....
The planning fallacy
EXTRA EXTRA A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group Read in browser Nearly everything takes longer than we expect. It’s the recipe with a cook time of 25 minutes that somehow took you 90. It’s the construction site down your street that was supposed to be finished last year. And it’s definitely every project that you take on at your startup. It’s not you. It’s a real thing. It’s called the planning fallacy. Iconic economists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky discovered this...
Outreach methods that match your stage
EXTRA EXTRA A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group Read in browser Founders often assume that sales processes of a later-stage company are what they should be doing too, like building out an automated sales sequence. It feels grown up. It feels like the obvious thing to do. But the average outbound sales sequence for a later-stage org is built on things that early startups just don’t have. Things like: A proven target market that has been sold to consistently and successfully...
Don't set that goal (plus an announcement)
EXTRA EXTRA A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group Read in browser I work with founders who are new to sales, and those who’ve been at it for years. They all ask the same question: “what should my sales goal be?” And I do have some answers. I’ve got recommendations on how many sales calls you should have a week, how many hours you should spend on selling, and what a good email deliverability rate is, so you know your emails aren’t going straight to spam. But I’m also very...
The customer is not always right
EXTRA EXTRA A newsletter about early sales from The Extra Group Read in browser So, let me be clear. The customer is right often. If a buyer doesn’t perceive something as high on their list, they’re right about that. No persuasion will change their mind. If the customer isn’t satisfied with your support once they start working with you, they’re right about that, too. Their perception is their reality. But when it comes to the sales cycle, prospects can be misguided. Here's a common one:...
Altitude sickness, startup style
A founder client of mine* once said that she deals with “startup altitude sickness.” I’d bet you’re right there with her. Multiple times a day, a founder goes from down in the weeds to 10,000 feet. One moment, you’re fixing product bugs, analyzing open rates, or checking for spelling errors in a new sales sequence. And then, you elevate. Often, it's not even a conscious choice. You’re writing an email, and all of a sudden you’re looking down at your startup, asking existential questions like…...
Learning to love the flop, plus a free tool
We've reached the final stretch of our journey through the sales myths and mindset traps that can hold early founders back. After tackling "building before selling" and the misconceptions about who makes a good salesperson, it's time to bust through three final limiting beliefs that might keep you from revenue momentum. Myth: "If selling doesn't go well, I'm a failure." Many founders take sales challenges personally, whether it’s a lost deal, an awkward sales call, or an underperforming...
"I'm not built for this"
“I’m not built to do sales.” So many founders silently carry this self-limiting belief from sales call to sales call. It was a story I told myself a lot, in fact. But the stories we tell ourselves often aren’t true. You know, stories like, "if I catch the next subway, I'll be three minutes late max," or “scrolling before bed definitely won’t give me anxiety or stress dreams.” We tell ourselves we couldn’t possibly be good at sales, and that story just isn’t true. Last week, we tackled the...
The first myth of early sales
The road to startup success is paved with misconceptions. None are more tricky than the myths we tell ourselves about sales. In this three-email series (which I’m affectionately calling “Mythbusters: Early Sales Edition”), I’ll dismantle some of the beliefs that can hold early-stage founders back from building a sustainable business with recurring, reliable revenue. This week we’ll tackle Myth #1: “I can’t sell yet because my product isn’t ready.” I know you’ve heard the startup mantra from...
Five counterintuitive tips for cold outbound
If you’ve worked with me before, you know that I’m weirdly into cold outbounding. I wouldn’t say it’s an obsession, as I reserve that designation for the likes of Survivor and Bruce Springsteen -- but yes, I’m a big fan of cold emails as an outreach strategy. At the most basic level, I like cold outreach because it needs to be part of your strategy if you're serious about sales. Relying on referrals or hoping for inbounds will not provide the necessary volume for sales momentum. Beyond this,...
Extra Extra is a newsletter about the tactics and mindsets that drive early startup sales. I’ve helped dozens of startups get results like a 50x in repeatable revenue and a 400% lift in sales calls per week.