“Great things in business are never done by one person. They’re done by a team of people.” — Steve Jobs
Working with the Sales Team at Different Stages of a Company’s Lifecycle
In every organization, the relationship between engineering and sales teams plays a pivotal role in the company’s growth and success. The dynamics between these departments, however, evolve over time as the company matures. In this blog post, we’ll explore how collaboration between sales and engineering shifts at different stages of a company’s lifecycle: startup, growth, and maturity.
Startup Stage: Building Trust and Flexibility
At the startup stage, when teams are small and roles often overlap, the relationship between sales and engineering can be both challenging and crucial. The product is usually in its early stages, meaning features are still being defined, and the sales team is typically on the frontlines engaging with early customers.
Key Dynamics:
- Direct Communication: In startups, sales and engineering often have more direct communication. With fewer layers of management, the sales team can convey customer needs and feature requests directly to the engineers.
- Iterative Feedback Loop: The sales team relies heavily on engineering to iterate quickly on feedback from early adopters. Engineers need to be flexible in their approach, often modifying or adding features on short timelines to meet customer demands.
- Building Trust: Trust is built by engineers responding rapidly to sales-driven product insights, and sales providing clear, detailed feedback from users. Both teams must understand they are on the same side—working together to deliver value to customers.
Challenges:
- Feature Prioritization: There can be tension between delivering a stable product and rapidly implementing features that sales say are crucial for closing deals.
- Customer Promises: Sales teams may over-promise on capabilities to win early business, placing pressure on engineering to deliver at unrealistic speeds.
Growth Stage: Scaling and Structured Processes
Once a company enters its growth stage, the relationship between engineering and sales starts to shift. With more customers and revenue targets increasing, both teams become more specialized and structured. The company is now focused on scaling, which requires more process and discipline in the interaction between sales and engineering.
Key Dynamics:
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Engineering, product, and sales need to work closely together. Product managers often serve as the bridge, taking customer requirements from sales and translating them into development priorities for engineering.
- Roadmapping and Expectations: With more customers and a broader market presence, product roadmaps become more defined. Sales needs visibility into the roadmap to sell what is realistically achievable, while engineering must manage expectations to avoid constant feature churn.
- Focus on Scalability: The engineering team’s focus moves from quick iterations to building scalable and reliable solutions. Sales must understand that, while flexibility was key in the startup stage, scaling requires more rigorous development processes.
Challenges:
- Maintaining Agility: As processes become more formalized, it can be harder for engineering to remain agile and responsive to short-term sales needs.
- Managing Sales Pressure: Sales may continue to push for customizations or quick feature rollouts to close larger deals. Engineering must push back when necessary to ensure the product remains scalable and maintainable.
Maturity Stage: Stability and Alignment on Long-term Vision
In the maturity stage, the company has established itself in the market and typically has a well-defined product suite. Both sales and engineering teams are larger, and their collaboration becomes more strategic.
Key Dynamics:
- Strategic Alignment: At this stage, engineering and sales must be tightly aligned on the company’s long-term vision and product strategy. Sales focuses on leveraging the company’s established reputation and expanding into new markets, while engineering focuses on innovation and maintaining product quality.
- Product Enhancements: Instead of frequent feature requests from sales, there’s more emphasis on refining existing products and creating solutions for specific industries or larger enterprise deals.
- Customer Feedback Channels: By now, the company likely has formal customer feedback systems, customer success teams, and product managers who work with both sales and engineering to define long-term priorities.
Challenges:
- Innovation vs. Stability: Sales may push for large, complex deals that require heavy customization, which can slow down engineering’s ability to focus on innovation or the next product evolution.
- Balancing Long-Term Vision and Short-Term Wins: Sales teams often feel pressure to meet quarterly targets, while engineering may be focused on longer-term projects like system overhauls or platform upgrades. Maintaining balance here is crucial to avoid burnout or losing momentum.
Tips for Effective Collaboration Across All Stages
- Set Clear Boundaries and Expectations: Engineering and sales should establish clear lines of communication and define what constitutes a reasonable request. Sales should understand the technical limitations, and engineering should appreciate the urgency of customer-facing teams.
- Develop a Feedback Loop: Establish formal processes for sales to provide feedback and for engineering to respond. This could be done through regular cross-functional meetings, shared documentation, or collaborative tools.
- Align on Product Vision: Both teams must understand and agree on the long-term vision for the product. This ensures that sales aren’t overpromising, and engineering isn’t overbuilding.
- Celebrate Wins Together: When sales close a big deal or engineering delivers a major feature that contributes to company success, celebrate these wins across both teams. This fosters mutual respect and shared goals.
Wrapping up…
The relationship between sales and engineering evolves as a company matures, moving from the chaotic, fast-paced days of a startup to the more structured, strategic efforts of a mature organization. Throughout these stages, the key to success lies in open communication, mutual understanding, and a shared focus on the company’s goals. By fostering collaboration at each phase, both teams can contribute to the company’s growth and long-term success.
