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Interesting. I have 2 questions: 1. What does the business person do in the weeks/months before there is anything to sell? 2. How do you teach people to sell?

Interesting. I have 2 questions: 1. What does the business person do in the weeks/months before there is anything to sell? 2. How do you teach people to sell? Judging by the stories coming out of the major incubators pitching to investors is just a matter of iterating on your elevator speech and answering questions until you have sharpened your vision to a sentence or two. How do you formalize that process in a classroom setting?

andrewtbham 16y ago
i agree sales is key... in the months before the sales guy can work on marketing, sales strategy, market research... building a reputation with the target audience.
jakestein 16y ago
1. Before we had a product I spent a lot of time taking care of administrative stuff that was necessary to get the company going. I also wrote the copy for the website. The biggest thing though is to talk to the people who you will eventually sell to and see if they are interested in what you are building. 2. Practice is a huge part of it. I also think its worthwhile to learn about the training programs bigger companies put their employees through. I have a few cd's from http://www.sandler.com/ http://www.sandler.com/ that have been very helpful. If you have a friend who works in sales, they probably have a bunch of these.
anamax 16y ago
> 1. What does the business person do in the weeks/months before there is anything to sell? What do you think that one can't sell something before it's available? In some circumstances it's illegal to accept payment before a product is available, but you can always sell.
fezzl 16y ago
1. Start selling before you release anything. In fact, start selling before you write your first line of code. Sell your idea to potential customers and see their reaction. Keep engaging potential customers, keep building your understanding of your target market. That's what the business guy should do. 2. Doing 1) correctly will help you to sell empathically. The best way to learn to sell is to begin with a true understanding of the customer's behavior, situation, and pain points, not so much about technique/flair.

andrewtbham 16y ago

i agree sales is key... in the months before the sales guy can work on marketing, sales strategy, market research... building a reputation with the target audience.

jakestein 16y ago

1. Before we had a product I spent a lot of time taking care of administrative stuff that was necessary to get the company going. I also wrote the copy for the website. The biggest thing though is to talk to the people who you will eventually sell to and see if they are interested in what you are building. 2. Practice is a huge part of it. I also think its worthwhile to learn about the training programs bigger companies put their employees through. I have a few cd's from http://www.sandler.com/ http://www.sandler.com/ that have been very helpful. If you have a friend who works in sales, they probably have a bunch of these.

anamax 16y ago

> 1. What does the business person do in the weeks/months before there is anything to sell? What do you think that one can't sell something before it's available? In some circumstances it's illegal to accept payment before a product is available, but you can always sell.

fezzl 16y ago

1. Start selling before you release anything. In fact, start selling before you write your first line of code. Sell your idea to potential customers and see their reaction. Keep engaging potential customers, keep building your understanding of your target market. That's what the business guy should do. 2. Doing 1) correctly will help you to sell empathically. The best way to learn to sell is to begin with a true understanding of the customer's behavior, situation, and pain points, not so much about technique/flair.