A 30 Year Perspective on Scaling a Startup with Doug Frazier
Most startup founders wear many hats in the early days. And one of those hats is often head of sales usually because they are the most knowledgeable about the product and the problems it solves in the market. But it's impossible to grow beyond the startup phase if you are spending 15 days a month on the road selling. Replacing himself as a salesperson took 3 years, but replacing himself as head of sales took Doug Frazier much longer. It wasn’t until he discovered a genius channel strategy that he made the transition out of sales management.
In this episode of Sales Talk for CEOs, Doug Frazier talks about his 30-year journey at EnviroGuard and the key milestones that defined his path to success. From teaming up with his wife in order to make EnviroGuard a female-led company to hacking together a CRM solution years before Salesforce was invented. But the breakthrough that got him out of sales management and into the C Suite, a certification program for channel partners. The program provided the necessary training, but more importantly, it became a symbol of expertise and competence that differentiated his channel partners in the eyes of the customer.
Highlights
1:25 - The big idea
6:20 - CRM before Salesforce
12:52 - Certification as a channel strategy
24:03 - The future of EnviroGuard
About Guest & Company
Doug Frazier is the co-founder and CEO of EnviroGuard, a company that revolutionized battery safety products that are utilized in mission-critical applications such as backup power sites, data centers, utilities, and telecommunication transmission facilities across North America.
Quote
“The single best strategy for scaling was to create a certification program similar to the Automotive Service Excellence program that auto mechanics have to pass. Ours is a factory installer training program with yearly courses, badges, and online videos. We have 1,200 certified installers across North America. The end customers really appreciate the fact that our installers are certified.”
Connect with Doug Frazier in the links below:
Website: https://www.enviroguard.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doug-frazier-214668a/
You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.
Website: https://AliceHeiman.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/