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I just quit my job to start a company. #1 problem is sales. Seriously, I knew marketing would be important, and sales would be important when I started this t

by swalsh 10y ago

I just quit my job to start a company. #1 problem is sales. Seriously, I knew marketing would be important, and sales would be important when I started this thing... but I really didn't realize that when I quit, what I actually was doing was making a job change from "really pretty good engineer to full time sales guy". I'm trying to do b2b software, which has a much different buying process. It's been quite a learning process, I've had to learn how to prospect, how to cold call (cold calling is frightening if you're an introverted engineer!!) how to actually drill into peoples pain points, how to avoid objection handling, how to find the decision makers. It's not easy. As a senior engineer, i'd never had partner up with a junior sales guy, but for some reason I thought learning it myself was a good idea.

j45 10y ago
Sales is a really good skill to learn. The health of a business is directly measurable by the rate at which it is gaining new customers. That kind of direct feedback into your development efforts is incredibly valuable. When the going gets tough, I try to remind myself that it's likely easier for a technical person to learn sales, than for a salesperson to learn tech.
tyingq 10y ago
Is there any product that might be complementary to yours, but not competitive? Maybe you could approach someone that already sells well, to cross sell your product?
ajmurmann 10y ago
Are there any resources you've found helpful to get better at sales?
- swalsh 10y ago
  I'm not an expert :D but what seems to be working for me, taking a lot of notes, looking back at failures for where I can learn. I try to do research on the prospect before I call. I think honestly trying to help the customer (and not just sell your solution) is important too. There's no replacement for practice... but in terms of books. "Spin Selling" by Neil Rackham was pretty good, and Dale Carnegies "How to win friends and Influence people" is a staple everyone should read.
it_learnses 10y ago
Have you already created a product? I am also deciding whether to quit and work on my product full-time, or work on in part-time. I find I don't have a lot of motivation and energy to work on it in the evenings after coding all day. At this rate I might never finish. Any suggestions?

by swalsh 10y ago

j45 10y ago

Sales is a really good skill to learn. The health of a business is directly measurable by the rate at which it is gaining new customers. That kind of direct feedback into your development efforts is incredibly valuable. When the going gets tough, I try to remind myself that it's likely easier for a technical person to learn sales, than for a salesperson to learn tech.

tyingq 10y ago

Is there any product that might be complementary to yours, but not competitive? Maybe you could approach someone that already sells well, to cross sell your product?

ajmurmann 10y ago

Are there any resources you've found helpful to get better at sales?

swalsh 10y ago
I'm not an expert :D but what seems to be working for me, taking a lot of notes, looking back at failures for where I can learn. I try to do research on the prospect before I call. I think honestly trying to help the customer (and not just sell your solution) is important too. There's no replacement for practice... but in terms of books. "Spin Selling" by Neil Rackham was pretty good, and Dale Carnegies "How to win friends and Influence people" is a staple everyone should read.

it_learnses 10y ago

Have you already created a product? I am also deciding whether to quit and work on my product full-time, or work on in part-time. I find I don't have a lot of motivation and energy to work on it in the evenings after coding all day. At this rate I might never finish. Any suggestions?