Sales Team and Role
After Naledi Mokoena delivered her new HarvestBox elevator pitch, more people began asking questions. Some wanted to try the meal boxes, while others saw opportunities for workplace partnerships.
The interest was encouraging, but Naledi still felt uncomfortable calling herself a salesperson.
She enjoyed explaining why HarvestBox existed and listening to customers. She was less comfortable discussing prices, following up after meetings or directly asking someone to buy.
Naledi initially thought she needed to hire a salesperson. Then she realised that, at this early stage, she was the person best positioned to lead sales.
No one understood the HarvestBox customer, product or purpose better than she did.
Understanding Her Sales Role
HarvestBox had paying customers, but sales were still mostly founder-led. Naledi handled partnership meetings, customer enquiries and referrals, while another team member helped record orders and send information.
When she reviewed her role honestly, Naledi identified both strengths and gaps.
She was confident starting conversations and describing the customer problem. People connected with her passion for convenient, healthy meals and support for local farmers.
However, she often avoided follow-ups because she did not want to appear pushy. She sometimes ended promising conversations with “Let me know if you’re interested” instead of agreeing on a clear next step.
This meant potential sales were being lost—not because people had rejected HarvestBox, but because the conversation had never moved forward.
Selling and Learning
Naledi began treating each sales conversation as an opportunity to learn.
She asked potential customers about their routines, current food choices and reasons for hesitating. She discovered that some loved the idea but worried about being locked into a subscription. Others wanted to see the menu before committing.
That feedback helped HarvestBox introduce a trial box and more flexible subscription options. Sales improved because the offer reflected what Naledi was hearing directly from customers.
She also created a simple follow-up routine. Every conversation ended with an agreed action: sending a sample menu, arranging a tasting or scheduling another meeting.
Sales started to feel less like persuasion and more like helping the right customer decide whether HarvestBox suited them.
Planning for Future Support
Naledi knew she would not lead every sale forever. But before hiring, she needed to understand what support the business actually required.
Her immediate gap was sales coordination—tracking leads, scheduling follow-ups and keeping partnership conversations organised. A dedicated salesperson would make sense later, once HarvestBox had a repeatable sales process and enough opportunities to justify the role.
As you define your own sales role, consider:
- What parts of sales do you currently own, and where do you feel confident or hesitant?
- What support will you need next, and what business milestone would justify bringing it in?
In the early stages, founder-led sales does more than generate revenue. It shows you which messages connect, which objections matter and which opportunities are worth pursuing.
By stepping into sales, Naledi was not only introducing HarvestBox to the world. She was learning how the world experienced it.
That learning gave her greater confidence—and gave the business a clearer path toward real momentum.
Until next time, Instant Startup community!
