The Self-Service model

The self-service model is when a customer makes a purchase on their own.

We typically see this model with B2C purchases in which a customer can
find and buy a product via a website, like Netflix or Amazon.

This works best for simple products with a low cost point and high volume
of sales. It’s difficult to build, but, when successful, it sees a short sales
cycle, zero cost to hire salespeople, and is highly profitable.

While you won’t need a sales team, you will need a marketing team to drive
traffic and conversions to your site. The core marketing team would likely
include growth marketing, performance marketing, and content marketing
experts, though there will likely be other team members as well.

The Inside Sales Business Model

The inside sales business model is when a prospect needs to be nurtured by

a sales rep to convert into a deal. This type of model works best with a
product of medium complexity and price.

The sales cycle ranges between a few weeks and a few months. Here,
you’ll invest in a sales team -- but inside sales reps are less expensive than
field reps.

With a high volume of sales, this model can be profitable and is fairly easy
to build and scale as you hire more team members. The sales team in this
model is typically comprised of a sales manager that supervises a handful
of reps.

The Field Sales Business Model

The field sales business model is when you have a full sales organization
that closes large enterprise deals. These are typically complex products
with high price points, which also means there’s typically a low volume of
deals with a long sales cycle.

The sales team in this model is often very costly as the field reps are
experienced, high-salary employees. This model is easy to build, but
harder to scale, because it takes time and money to hire and train a full
sales organization.

Members include a sales manager, field reps, sales engineers, a sales

development representative (SDR) team, and sales operations.

The Channel Model

Lastly, in the channel model, an outside agency or partner sells your

product for you. This is hard to build, as the people can be difficult to recruit
and educate on the benefits of your product. They are also often less
motivated to sell than your own sales team would be.

However, this is a cheap model, because you don’t need to pay a sales
team of your own. It works best with a product that matches with the
partner’s interest. For example, if you sell phone cases, you might want to
find partners selling related products, like Best Buy or Apple.

You can mix and match these strategies based on industry or customer
size (i.e., number of licenses or seats). For startups, it’s healthy to scale
over time rather than investing in an expensive sales team too early.