5 WAYS TO LOCK IN YOUR SALES STORY

 

At Startup Boston Week, HATCH CEO & Founder Jennifer Harrington joined fellow CEOs and leaders to discuss the key moment in every startup’s growth when the founder must pass the baton in order to scale sales.

It’s a tricky transition to get right. Founders carry the startup’s story in their heads: why they built the business, what makes it different, who it’s for. But if that story can’t be handed off to a sales leader (and eventually sales team) to run with, growth will stall.

 

At HATCH, we’ve worked with organizations from scrappy startups to Fortune 500s to craft compelling, repeatable, scalable sales stories. Here are five things to remember (and watch out for) as you pass the baton.

 

1. Marketing and Sales See Things Differently—That’s Good

Marketers bring research, customer data, and competitive insight to the table. Sales, on the other hand, is in the trenches every day—hearing objections, learning what wins deals, and getting real-time competitor intel. Companies that merge these perspectives create the most powerful stories. 90% of sales and marketing leaders say alignment drives business growth—but only 46% say they’re well aligned*. Bridging that gap is critical.

 

2. A Sales Story ≠ A Brand Story

A brand story is about big-picture truths, promises, and pillars that unite employees, partners, and customers. A sales story has a different job: Moving a prospect one step closer to “yes.” That means focusing on benefits, solving pain points, and tailoring the story to the market or buyer at hand. It should be consistent with the brand—but sharper, more direct, and always put the customer first.

 

3. Start with Messaging

Too many companies think, “We need a new pitch deck.” But slides are the wrong starting point. Instead, build a messaging framework first: test product-market fit, gather feedback, and lock in your story. Teams are also far more likely to align around messaging than around slide design (everyone has their own subjective opinion on the latter).

 

4. One Slide to Rule Them All

One VP of Sales we worked with asked: “If you could only show one slide, which would it be?” Salespeople rarely get a perfect 30-minute pitch window. They need a go-to slide, graphic, or visual that communicates the core value proposition in seconds. Make sure your team has it—because sometimes, one slide is all you get.

 

5. Keep the Feedback Loop Open

Sales stories aren’t static—they evolve. The best ones stay consistent but flex to market feedback. That’s why you need a system for collecting input from across your sales team (not just the loudest voices). Research from HubSpot shows that 65% of salespeople say they can’t find content that’s relevant to their conversations. A structured feedback loop ensures your story keeps resonating—and your team has what they need.

 

Scaling sales isn’t about a killer deck or a clever slogan. It’s about building a repeatable, resonant story—one that combines marketing insight, sales reality, and founder’s vision into something the whole team can carry forward.

Because at the end of the day, the best story wins.

 

*Source: LinkedIn’s State of Sales report