When developing your marketing strategy as a startup, there must be a strategy to your sales vision. Unless you have a clear visionan and strategy, you will fail in your sales. First, remember that your prospects are people, not prospects. When we sell, we're always trying to get to know our clients and prospects. Sometimes we've been friends with our clients for years before they agree to hire us. What started out as trying to get to know somebody to hopefully become a client eventually became a good friend in our industry, regardless of whether or not we did business with them. And most of our clients are good friends with us. We exchange emails and telephone calls as friends, and go to dinner when we're in the same city, just for the fellowship. Second, you need to clearly identify your market. Just saying broadly "business" isn't enough. Do you sell to tech companies? Startups? What size company? over 50 employees? under 25 employees? What is your clearly defined target? Once you nail down exactly who you're going after, you can tailor a specific solution to meet their needs. Next, make sure you have the right tools to do the job. Have some kind of CRM in place. Gather data and use it. Finally, hire the right talent. If you're interfacing with people a lot, hire people that are pleasant to be around. Hire people that are enjoyable, have a thick skin, and are able to apologize for mistake. Hire a team that understands hard work and responsibility. Hire a team with knowledge of your infrastructure and technology.

These aren't the only keys to your marketing, but it's a start. This is just part of building the foundation of a successful company that will be a solution to your clients, and have a great reputation as hardworking, pleasant, and trustworthy company.