36 ms·

Ask HN: How do I teach myself to be a salesman?

So we hackers are always saying that we can learn business, but the business guys can't learn to hack. Now I'm suddenly in a place where I need some salesmanship skills, and I don't know the first thing. I'm trying to recruit initial sellers for my plant marketplace, doleaf.com On the upside, there are thousands of specialty nurseries all over the country. A simple Google search turns up dozens, and most of them don't sell online (which is what we provide!) I've sent a few cold-emails trying to generate some interest, but it feels very spammy, and hasn't generated any response. What should I do? Are there some books I should read? My guess is that I just need some basic instruction and a little practice, but I don't know where to start. Recommendations on reading material, blogs to follow, etc.?

access_denied 17y ago
What the heck is doleaf.com? "It is just budding at the moment, do some wierd geek stuff" Learn to speak the language of your customers. Also, what is doleaf? Something with plants I guess, what does it do for me? I couldn't figure this out (by glancing over the homepage).
tyohn 17y ago
If I had to venture a guess - you don't seem to understand your marketplace. I don't mean you don't understand online sales - I mean you don't understand small growers (specialty nurseries). I grew up around small growers (Near Lancaster, PA). Most of the growers I know don't really use the web for sales (or much of anything) - you might think that's good since that's what you are offering but that means in order to sell to them you first need to educate them on the web and then try to make the sale. Grower's don't live and breath the internet like we do...by trying to sell them through email you have cut your chances of a sale to almost nil - you might want to try snail mail, a phone call or better yet a sales call in person in this case.
- MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
  Yeah, I'm trying to build up the nerve to do some calling and in-person talking. And yes, many of them don't use the web for sales, but we're guessing they would if we could make it easy. We just need to convince a couple that it's worth the effort. Thanks for the tip!
  - tyohn 17y ago
    Its not that hard to do cold calls - if you really believe in the product. Here's a little about how I started if you're interested - http://troyyohn.com/?q=node/31 http://troyyohn.com/?q=node/31 :)
beastman82 17y ago
Pick up the phone and start calling. The questions they ask and ruminating over your experiences should highlight general ideas that you should "pitch."
lacker 17y ago
Just start calling! If they say no, ask why not. Ask if they could recommend to you any other people in the nursery business who might be interested. Offer to do something for someone completely for free if you can use them as a reference (a Mark Cuban recommendation for getting started in sales). Make 20 phone calls, and you will learn a lot about your potential users.
avdempsey 17y ago
Try door to door canvassing for a month (or three). After returning from some travel I picked up a job at greenpeace to tide myself over. Any inhibitions to putting myself out there and selling were hammered out in the three months I fund-raised for them. They train you, support you in the field, and most importantly make you _practice_ selling for 4 hours a day. There's just no replacement for experience. I needed a little strong-arming to get out and learn how to sell.
bavcyc 17y ago
Best book on sales is "The Selling Bible; For People in the Business of Selling", the summary is know what you are selling, keep track of what you do and listen.

access_denied 17y ago

What the heck is doleaf.com? "It is just budding at the moment, do some wierd geek stuff" Learn to speak the language of your customers. Also, what is doleaf? Something with plants I guess, what does it do for me? I couldn't figure this out (by glancing over the homepage).

tyohn 17y ago

If I had to venture a guess - you don't seem to understand your marketplace. I don't mean you don't understand online sales - I mean you don't understand small growers (specialty nurseries). I grew up around small growers (Near Lancaster, PA). Most of the growers I know don't really use the web for sales (or much of anything) - you might think that's good since that's what you are offering but that means in order to sell to them you first need to educate them on the web and then try to make the sale. Grower's don't live and breath the internet like we do...by trying to sell them through email you have cut your chances of a sale to almost nil - you might want to try snail mail, a phone call or better yet a sales call in person in this case.

MicahWedemeyer 17y ago
Yeah, I'm trying to build up the nerve to do some calling and in-person talking. And yes, many of them don't use the web for sales, but we're guessing they would if we could make it easy. We just need to convince a couple that it's worth the effort. Thanks for the tip!
- tyohn 17y ago
  Its not that hard to do cold calls - if you really believe in the product. Here's a little about how I started if you're interested - http://troyyohn.com/?q=node/31 http://troyyohn.com/?q=node/31 :)

beastman82 17y ago

Pick up the phone and start calling. The questions they ask and ruminating over your experiences should highlight general ideas that you should "pitch."

lacker 17y ago

Just start calling! If they say no, ask why not. Ask if they could recommend to you any other people in the nursery business who might be interested. Offer to do something for someone completely for free if you can use them as a reference (a Mark Cuban recommendation for getting started in sales). Make 20 phone calls, and you will learn a lot about your potential users.

avdempsey 17y ago

Try door to door canvassing for a month (or three). After returning from some travel I picked up a job at greenpeace to tide myself over. Any inhibitions to putting myself out there and selling were hammered out in the three months I fund-raised for them. They train you, support you in the field, and most importantly make you _practice_ selling for 4 hours a day. There's just no replacement for experience. I needed a little strong-arming to get out and learn how to sell.

bavcyc 17y ago

Best book on sales is "The Selling Bible; For People in the Business of Selling", the summary is know what you are selling, keep track of what you do and listen.