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Step 1) Find a great sales person Step 2) Let them promise your software does whatever it takes to make the sale Step 3) Make software do that Step 4) Repeat

Step 1) Find a great sales person Step 2) Let them promise your software does whatever it takes to make the sale Step 3) Make software do that Step 4) Repeat Step 5) Profit I know it sounds crazy but I have worked at a couple software companies in the specialized enterprise space (things like healthcare IT) where software costs several hundred thousand per location and this is simply how it is done. The expectation is some very broadly featured software that you will customize to their needs and support. The upside, the expect to pay handsomely to license it, they expect to pay for the customization and expect to pay annually for support. The key is a great sales person which often means you need to give them a hefty commission.

notastartup 13y ago
I like how you broke it down in 5 simple steps. 1) Craigslist? Where can I find someone who's willing to work purely on commission for a software product he's never heard of before? 2) So basically make the sales guy rack up the dollar amount by promising the universe. 3) Hire guys and project manage. 4) Love to repeat but where to get the next lead or client? 5) Profit, what to charge the enterprise guys? Is $500,000 a good starting point? Is it even possible to pull, one sale, one year, $500,000, that's me having to sell $49/month to a 1000 customers by the end of the year. I think the one client paying $500,000 sounds like a much better deal.
- keithwarren 13y ago
  CL is not a good place, great sales people are rare and they dont hunt around on CL. I would find an already successful enterprise software sales person in the space you want to be in. He/She probably already has a job but sales people sell and they love have new things to sell. It may take some convincing but keep persistent and you will find someone. The salesperson does not really rack up the dollar amount on a feature by feature basis. There is not some line item set of features each with a price. They are buying the whole thing - the feature dance is all about ensuring the customer (whether you have the goods or not) that your package will fit their needs. Large corporations have evolved themselves into a potpurri of rules and processes for how they do things. They dont make sense in most cases which is what prevents them from using a low barrier to entry tool like something a small startup might make - basically, they cannot change their process to fit the software, they need the software to fit them. None will, I repeat, no software from any vendor will fit their business...the salesperson has to convince them that you are the best company to make it fit. Preferably dont hire guys and manage, hire no one and do it yourself. When you are working way too much, have not enough time and a mountain of work ahead AND signed deals with customers (including checks) then hire someone. Repeat this process. DO NOT HIRE people until you absolutely need them. If the sales person is any good, he had the next lead before he left the last meeting. When you find a good one you will have to tell them to slow down. Pricing is a black art, too low and no one takes you serious, too high and you become a budget item that needs to be planned for and the sales cycle goes on for over a year which gives competitors more chances. Feel out your customer, ask them directly what their budget is...but mostly let your sales person worry about that.
  - notastartup 13y ago
    How did you convince sales person to sell for you and what enterprise software niche markets have lower barrier to entry or does this even matter at all? Where do you find enterprise customer leads to give the sales person? Adwords?
    - saaaaaam 13y ago
      Sales people generate their own leads, from research, networking, recommendations, ploughing through conference line-ups, hitting the phones and asking who the right person to speak to is - and on and on. If you have to give them leads, they're the wrong person.
  - notastartup 13y ago
    Okay I just sent a bunch of linked in messages, does it make sense to target young sales person at enterprise companies? I'm guessing people like director of sales or vp of sales won't give a crap. Ideally looking for hungry people, who are self motivated and looking to make higher comission that compensates them for the added risk.
    - keithwarren 13y ago
      Cold calling people on LinkedIn probably wont prove all that successful but it can't hurt. The real question is do you have anything built yet? Do you have domain expertise in the space you are targeting? In lots of cases enterprise software for niche scenarios is born out of a consulting engagement: Company A contracts you to build them a system for tracking widgets. You do so and get their permission to use that software in other projects. Company B wants widget shipment calculation software so you go to them and say 'I know about widgets, we built this widget tracking thing and we can add shipment calculation to it'. That is how the ball gets rolling. Most software in this kind of space is packed full of features and rules that are not easily just spawned out of thin air - it usually takes many man years of development.
      - notastartup 13y ago

notastartup 13y ago

I like how you broke it down in 5 simple steps. 1) Craigslist? Where can I find someone who's willing to work purely on commission for a software product he's never heard of before? 2) So basically make the sales guy rack up the dollar amount by promising the universe. 3) Hire guys and project manage. 4) Love to repeat but where to get the next lead or client? 5) Profit, what to charge the enterprise guys? Is $500,000 a good starting point? Is it even possible to pull, one sale, one year, $500,000, that's me having to sell $49/month to a 1000 customers by the end of the year. I think the one client paying $500,000 sounds like a much better deal.

keithwarren 13y ago
CL is not a good place, great sales people are rare and they dont hunt around on CL. I would find an already successful enterprise software sales person in the space you want to be in. He/She probably already has a job but sales people sell and they love have new things to sell. It may take some convincing but keep persistent and you will find someone. The salesperson does not really rack up the dollar amount on a feature by feature basis. There is not some line item set of features each with a price. They are buying the whole thing - the feature dance is all about ensuring the customer (whether you have the goods or not) that your package will fit their needs. Large corporations have evolved themselves into a potpurri of rules and processes for how they do things. They dont make sense in most cases which is what prevents them from using a low barrier to entry tool like something a small startup might make - basically, they cannot change their process to fit the software, they need the software to fit them. None will, I repeat, no software from any vendor will fit their business...the salesperson has to convince them that you are the best company to make it fit. Preferably dont hire guys and manage, hire no one and do it yourself. When you are working way too much, have not enough time and a mountain of work ahead AND signed deals with customers (including checks) then hire someone. Repeat this process. DO NOT HIRE people until you absolutely need them. If the sales person is any good, he had the next lead before he left the last meeting. When you find a good one you will have to tell them to slow down. Pricing is a black art, too low and no one takes you serious, too high and you become a budget item that needs to be planned for and the sales cycle goes on for over a year which gives competitors more chances. Feel out your customer, ask them directly what their budget is...but mostly let your sales person worry about that.
- notastartup 13y ago
  How did you convince sales person to sell for you and what enterprise software niche markets have lower barrier to entry or does this even matter at all? Where do you find enterprise customer leads to give the sales person? Adwords?
  - saaaaaam 13y ago
    Sales people generate their own leads, from research, networking, recommendations, ploughing through conference line-ups, hitting the phones and asking who the right person to speak to is - and on and on. If you have to give them leads, they're the wrong person.
- notastartup 13y ago
  Okay I just sent a bunch of linked in messages, does it make sense to target young sales person at enterprise companies? I'm guessing people like director of sales or vp of sales won't give a crap. Ideally looking for hungry people, who are self motivated and looking to make higher comission that compensates them for the added risk.
  - keithwarren 13y ago
    Cold calling people on LinkedIn probably wont prove all that successful but it can't hurt. The real question is do you have anything built yet? Do you have domain expertise in the space you are targeting? In lots of cases enterprise software for niche scenarios is born out of a consulting engagement: Company A contracts you to build them a system for tracking widgets. You do so and get their permission to use that software in other projects. Company B wants widget shipment calculation software so you go to them and say 'I know about widgets, we built this widget tracking thing and we can add shipment calculation to it'. That is how the ball gets rolling. Most software in this kind of space is packed full of features and rules that are not easily just spawned out of thin air - it usually takes many man years of development.
    - notastartup 13y ago