Dare To Scale Workshop: Vladimir Davchev on Perfecting the Sales Process

From picking cherries and exchanging them for small change in his native Sofia suburb, to delivering food worth over €1 Million per month in Bulgaria and Romania through his BGmenu platform – Vladimir Davchev is certainly not a stranger to mastering the sales process.

At Dare to Scale’s third workshop, Vladi encouraged the 10 participating companies to keep trying even if they hear tens, if not hundreds of “no’s” from potential clients and partners: “The more persistent you are, the greater your chances for turning the “no” into a “yes” are. Keep on trying as every rejection can be an excellent training ground for future success”. Vladimir shared his overall vision about the sales process which, in his opinion, can be best described with the “roll-up-your-sleeves” approach – as he said, sales is not about great ideas, but simply-put, it’s about execution, determination and consistency.

Vladimir walked the founders through his entrepreneurial journey, which most recently included creating the largest food delivery platform in Bulgaria. He shared that you need to be able to answer key questions to assess the potential success of sales campaigns, such as: “Does my product add value to the customer?, Does it really differ from the competitors’ products?”.

During the workshop, the entrepreneurs also had the chance to discuss their current sales-related challenges. These included communicating only with junior decision-makers and the challenges in advancing the negotiation process, designing and rewarding the sales team in accordance with the results achieved, and setting KPI’s.

Vladimir advised the participants to expand drastically their scope when reaching out to their B2B targets instead of contacting only the most obvious leads – he stressed they should identify and reach out to several of the target client’s key figures on a regular basis, make them talk about the product, create a buzz and to not forget to tailor the value proposition in a way that the client best understands it. When it comes to the salespeople’s KPIs and goals, the co-founder of BGmenu recommended adhering to the 80-120% rule – or in other words, setting ambitious yet realistic targets. Vladi touched upon the significance of adjusting these goals in case they are too easily achievable or unrealistically high and tying them up with the renumeration of the employees.

When asked about his sources of inspiration, Vladimir suggested the “Master of Scale” podcast by Reid Hoffman. In the podcast Hoffman presents different theories on how successful businesses scale.