4 ms·

Ask HN: How to be good at sales?

9 points by tamersalama 16y ago

Selling ideas, skills, products, etc... - what should be my resources?

aspir 16y ago
In my opinion, you can't read a blog or a book to be able to sell, it just takes practice. But I'd recommended the following goal: Introduce yourself to as many new people a day as possible, and do your best to remember their names. Selling is about relationships, and if you can't build them with strangers, you can't sell. Everyone has a cool story and something they're passionate about. Find it. On a similar note, try to at least be able to hold a surface conversation over lots of topics and hobbies. It's not hard: golf/sports="Tiger Woods is ...", politics="they're all windbags", family="kids are fun". Discuss in that surface/shallow manner until something deeper comes up. You now may have something to spend hours talking about, and you may have laid the groundwork for a new close friendship. That's touchy-feely, of course. But it works. For selling, take the above model and replace "passion" or "hobby" with "career." Ideally they should be similar. Relational bonding is how you sell things. In fact you're not selling anything to anyone; two associates are solving each others problems. Think of it in that light, and you're on the right path.
iuguy 16y ago
It really depends on what you're selling and to whom. I sell consulting services on a business to business (b2b) basis. I do a reasonably ok job but I'm not an out and out sales guy. It sounds to me like you need to get a better idea of what you're going to sell and to whom before you look at how. For example: What's your route to market? (Cold calls? Mailshots? SEO? Form signups?) Who are you selling to? (SMEs? Enterprise businesses? Teenagers?) What are you unique selling points (USPs)? (Price? Quality? Uniqueness?) From there you can start looking at theory, things like the 4Ps, Sales funnels etc. depending on your answers. Some things that have worked for me: Cold Caling Techniques (That Really Work) by Steven Schiffman Spin Selling by Neil Rackham Why People Don't Buy Things by Wallace and Washburn Before you go off buying these books, bear in mind that you haven't sorted out your approach yet. By all means have a look, but sort out your own answers to the questions first.
known 16y ago
To be good at sales, you need to be rich and connected.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
iworkforthem 16y ago
- Illustrate the Benefits. - Price It Attractively for User to Take Action. - Follow-Up.
mathgladiator 16y ago
Step 1: Find a person that has a problem Step 2: Find a solution to that problem Step 3: Get person to pay for the solution Repeat...
andrewstuart 16y ago
I've done lots of selling over the years - all for my own startups. At first I thought I was bad at it - I just didn't seem to manage to be able to get people to buy what I was selling. It all changed one day when I started selling something completely different - something that people wanted, that there was demand for, and was priced competitively. Suddenly people started buying and I was hardly even trying to sell at all. Sure there is always more to learn about selling, and there are lots of good books on it. You should read them. Reading lots about selling will make you a better salesperson. There's no bigger lesson though than to sell something that people want - that's when you'll start making sales. Being a good salesperson is all about the product/service and the price that its sold at - it's got to be something that people want. If you can't make any sales then maybe the product or service you are selling is wrong.
harscoat 16y ago
1/ Listen 2/ ask open questions vs. "sell" your idea/product: to understand their pain points, the purchasing process, their objection (which you can answer 1 by 1) 3/ Ask hard questions "what's your budget", "what's our competition", "Why would you purchase from us vs Monster co.?" 4/ know how to shut up when you have asked a question (the 1st who speaks has lost) 5/ Be fair and confident in the value you are selling (otherwise it's a shitty job to sell crap) + check the related question "how to close a sale": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897543 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897543 Deer vs rabbit or Elephant hunters: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-startups-should-be-deer-hunters/ http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-startups-...

9 points by tamersalama 16y ago

Selling ideas, skills, products, etc... - what should be my resources?

aspir 16y ago

In my opinion, you can't read a blog or a book to be able to sell, it just takes practice. But I'd recommended the following goal: Introduce yourself to as many new people a day as possible, and do your best to remember their names. Selling is about relationships, and if you can't build them with strangers, you can't sell. Everyone has a cool story and something they're passionate about. Find it. On a similar note, try to at least be able to hold a surface conversation over lots of topics and hobbies. It's not hard: golf/sports="Tiger Woods is ...", politics="they're all windbags", family="kids are fun". Discuss in that surface/shallow manner until something deeper comes up. You now may have something to spend hours talking about, and you may have laid the groundwork for a new close friendship. That's touchy-feely, of course. But it works. For selling, take the above model and replace "passion" or "hobby" with "career." Ideally they should be similar. Relational bonding is how you sell things. In fact you're not selling anything to anyone; two associates are solving each others problems. Think of it in that light, and you're on the right path.

iuguy 16y ago

It really depends on what you're selling and to whom. I sell consulting services on a business to business (b2b) basis. I do a reasonably ok job but I'm not an out and out sales guy. It sounds to me like you need to get a better idea of what you're going to sell and to whom before you look at how. For example: What's your route to market? (Cold calls? Mailshots? SEO? Form signups?) Who are you selling to? (SMEs? Enterprise businesses? Teenagers?) What are you unique selling points (USPs)? (Price? Quality? Uniqueness?) From there you can start looking at theory, things like the 4Ps, Sales funnels etc. depending on your answers. Some things that have worked for me: Cold Caling Techniques (That Really Work) by Steven Schiffman Spin Selling by Neil Rackham Why People Don't Buy Things by Wallace and Washburn Before you go off buying these books, bear in mind that you haven't sorted out your approach yet. By all means have a look, but sort out your own answers to the questions first.

known 16y ago

To be good at sales, you need to be rich and connected.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

iworkforthem 16y ago

- Illustrate the Benefits. - Price It Attractively for User to Take Action. - Follow-Up.

mathgladiator 16y ago

Step 1: Find a person that has a problem Step 2: Find a solution to that problem Step 3: Get person to pay for the solution Repeat...

andrewstuart 16y ago

I've done lots of selling over the years - all for my own startups. At first I thought I was bad at it - I just didn't seem to manage to be able to get people to buy what I was selling. It all changed one day when I started selling something completely different - something that people wanted, that there was demand for, and was priced competitively. Suddenly people started buying and I was hardly even trying to sell at all. Sure there is always more to learn about selling, and there are lots of good books on it. You should read them. Reading lots about selling will make you a better salesperson. There's no bigger lesson though than to sell something that people want - that's when you'll start making sales. Being a good salesperson is all about the product/service and the price that its sold at - it's got to be something that people want. If you can't make any sales then maybe the product or service you are selling is wrong.

harscoat 16y ago

1/ Listen 2/ ask open questions vs. "sell" your idea/product: to understand their pain points, the purchasing process, their objection (which you can answer 1 by 1) 3/ Ask hard questions "what's your budget", "what's our competition", "Why would you purchase from us vs Monster co.?" 4/ know how to shut up when you have asked a question (the 1st who speaks has lost) 5/ Be fair and confident in the value you are selling (otherwise it's a shitty job to sell crap) + check the related question "how to close a sale": http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897543 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1897543 Deer vs rabbit or Elephant hunters: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-startups-should-be-deer-hunters/ http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/16/most-startups-...