How to Keep Momentum When Enterprise Customers & Prospects Hit Pause

One of the greatest pains for startups in the current climate is having a warm enterprise prospect pushing off a nearly closed deal or a newly signed customer delaying implementation. Earlier today, Kyle Costello of Radius Bank and Iain Kennedy of Harvest Savings & Wealth Technologies gave an inside view on how startups can maintain momentum and get to the finish line as efficiently as possible when the enterprise hits the pause button.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• For founders, remember what you bring to the table: nimble, not bloated by bureaucracy, have strong community ties.
• Ask what your enterprise partner will need from you for diligence ahead of time. Ask what will they need from you a month from now and have these pieces wrapped up and finalized ahead of time.
• Have your delivery model ironed out. This will accelerate your time to market if you’re well prepared and you’ll provide more value to your enterprise partner. Can you augment your client’s resources? Can you put together marketing white-papers? Think about what the biggest pieces of friction are for your enterprise clients.
• For buying decisions, they haven’t seen a meaningful impact yet. Kyle is seeing a slight shift more towards defensive plays over riskier decisions.
• They’re seeing an increased focus on an improved customer experience as well as how to accommodate and shift to remote work. Most companies have figured out the remote piece at this point and are now asking themselves: how can I deliver the same experience to my customers that I was previously able to deliver?
• Your approach to the market in this environment will have to shift. Look critically at your pricing structure for enterprise partners. Utilize goodwill in terms of pricing. Understand that this may not be their top focus at the moment but at least you’ve given them time to engage with your product.