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We recently had our first huge sale to a single customer. It started out as an inbound inquiry to the general email address. I wasn't involved at this time (the

We recently had our first huge sale to a single customer. It started out as an inbound inquiry to the general email address. I wasn't involved at this time (there are 6 of us, but only one other person handles anything sales/customer related). I believe there were a total of 4 emails outlining the general service, our products, current pricing, and what we could offer in the future. I later learned it was a very junior member of their team who was collecting this information. The final email, which included a presentation, led to the scheduling of a call with about six people from their side on the call (and two of us). This call lasted about 90 minutes with me talking almost non-stop. After the call they asked for an NDA so that we could share more details. It took about two weeks to get the NDA in place. The NDA was followed by a request for me to visit them in person for a couple of days. We're based in Chicago and it was a three hour flight. The meeting lasted about 10 hours, with about a half-dozen of their staffers involved, including their consultants. Consultants were involved to offer advice on build-versus-buy. After I went home, I was asked if their management team could come to Chicago. This ended up being an 8-hour meeting. At the close of that meeting, I had a verbal approval. The paperwork took another week or so to get in order. The initial funds were wired immediately after the contract was signed.

logicallee 11y ago
>We recently had our first huge sale to a single customer. in general terms can you talk about the size we're talking about (how many figures)? This is actually missing from a lot of stories in this thread but I think would be useful.
- syedkarim 11y ago
  This sale is worth about $750,000, with opportunity for additional sales in the near and medium term. Our technology is core to their long-term objective. As a bit of additional information, those first few emails that I mentioned took place over several months. From what I can tell the consultant and customer were reviewing the entire industry to see what was available. When they finally decided on a direction, things went pretty quickly. Although this sale seemed fairly straightforward, all of the other warm leads and almost-contracts were anything but. I would say there were about nine other deals that got very, very close, but never closed. I previously had a $250,000 sale with a verbal commitment from a customer with budget to literally give away. But in the end, the deal died (because of inter-organizational politics). My bit of unsolicited advice: Never, ever stop filling that pipeline. Keep casting that net, no matter how many times you miss.
  - logicallee 11y ago
    thanks!
statictype 11y ago
The initial funds were wired immediately after the contract was signed. For those who are new to enterprise sales and reading this - this is highly unusual for enterprise sales. Be prepared to waste many man-days chasing after payments to be payed and expect months of delays in receiving them. The larger the contract the more the delays. That's the nature of the game
- syedkarim 11y ago
  To clarify, I would not call this a typical enterprise deal or typical enterprise customer. I agree completely with you--closing a big deal is one thing, getting paid for it is quite another.
- danieltillett 11y ago
  It is amazing what not giving the customer the product until they have paid does for speeding up the payment process. I have yet to have a customer who can't manage to get the bill paid when they really want the product.
  - statictype 11y ago
    In large enterprise sales, you would typically structure the payments into various milestones. You may be able to invoice the first one before you actually give them anything but there is a vanishingly small chance of collecting the full payment until well after the product is deployed, probably in-use and occasionally after demands for features that were not agreed upon have been delivered.
joshyeager 11y ago
One tip: I've found that it's useful to make a standard bi-directional NDA that has exactly the same terms for both parties. This frequently lets you skip the two weeks of back-and-forth getting agreement on the NDA terms. You just say "we have a standard bi-directional NDA, do you want me to send it to you?", and they usually just skim it and sign without getting lawyers involved at all.
- syedkarim 11y ago
  I agree with your approach, but in this particular case, it just took them that long to get back to us.
  - joshyeager 11y ago
    Yeah, that happens too. (-:

logicallee 11y ago

>We recently had our first huge sale to a single customer. in general terms can you talk about the size we're talking about (how many figures)? This is actually missing from a lot of stories in this thread but I think would be useful.

syedkarim 11y ago
This sale is worth about $750,000, with opportunity for additional sales in the near and medium term. Our technology is core to their long-term objective. As a bit of additional information, those first few emails that I mentioned took place over several months. From what I can tell the consultant and customer were reviewing the entire industry to see what was available. When they finally decided on a direction, things went pretty quickly. Although this sale seemed fairly straightforward, all of the other warm leads and almost-contracts were anything but. I would say there were about nine other deals that got very, very close, but never closed. I previously had a $250,000 sale with a verbal commitment from a customer with budget to literally give away. But in the end, the deal died (because of inter-organizational politics). My bit of unsolicited advice: Never, ever stop filling that pipeline. Keep casting that net, no matter how many times you miss.
- logicallee 11y ago
  thanks!

statictype 11y ago

The initial funds were wired immediately after the contract was signed. For those who are new to enterprise sales and reading this - this is highly unusual for enterprise sales. Be prepared to waste many man-days chasing after payments to be payed and expect months of delays in receiving them. The larger the contract the more the delays. That's the nature of the game

syedkarim 11y ago
To clarify, I would not call this a typical enterprise deal or typical enterprise customer. I agree completely with you--closing a big deal is one thing, getting paid for it is quite another.
danieltillett 11y ago
It is amazing what not giving the customer the product until they have paid does for speeding up the payment process. I have yet to have a customer who can't manage to get the bill paid when they really want the product.
- statictype 11y ago
  In large enterprise sales, you would typically structure the payments into various milestones. You may be able to invoice the first one before you actually give them anything but there is a vanishingly small chance of collecting the full payment until well after the product is deployed, probably in-use and occasionally after demands for features that were not agreed upon have been delivered.

joshyeager 11y ago

One tip: I've found that it's useful to make a standard bi-directional NDA that has exactly the same terms for both parties. This frequently lets you skip the two weeks of back-and-forth getting agreement on the NDA terms. You just say "we have a standard bi-directional NDA, do you want me to send it to you?", and they usually just skim it and sign without getting lawyers involved at all.

syedkarim 11y ago
I agree with your approach, but in this particular case, it just took them that long to get back to us.
- joshyeager 11y ago
  Yeah, that happens too. (-: