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Ask HN: How to learn sales?

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Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#21

Post by franze »

In the 00 years I started my first company with a product called "Search Engine Optimized Distribution of Pressreleases and -communication over Blog and Web 2.0 Networks".

Today we would call it Corportae Blogging.

I created a product, a blog CMS (very poor on the M) and wanted to convince companies of SEO and blogging. Non of it where anywhere on their radar.

And 0 sales experience from my side.

I fail and realized I needed sales experience. So I applied and became a key account and a slazy company which sold crappy websites to estate agents.

Worst job ever. Learned a lot.

If you want to really learn sales, start selling. Just change your job for a while.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#22

Post by philshem »

skmurphy wrote: post #15

You need to separate sales from marketing. Sales is a conversation, marketing is a broadcast. Marketing gets the phone to ring, sales takes the call and closes the deal. For B2B sales resembles project management: the goal is not to convince everyone to buy your product or service but to diagnose their needs and only engage with firms that will benefit. For larger deals you "sell with your ears" as much as you talk.…

I’m not in sales at all, but learning SPIN works great to make a case for something in a structured way. It’s like a funnel to bring people into agreement with my viewpoint.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#23

Post by adamredwoods »

I helped run a small startup a long time ago. I helped shape some sales strategies and went on client pitches. Our main approach was to find the "pain point" of an executive in the company (we were B2B) and break through to them that way. To find the pain point you have to ask questions, which helps engage with the person you are selling to. Sometimes you shape your questions to get the client to think about potential pain points that your product solves.

We kept crafting our message over time, using email and cold calls, and used a lot of copywriting books to find messaging and pitches. I think the best one was The Copywriter's Handbook. Straight and to the point book. It's more about advertising, but messaging is key for sales, too. A headline is basically your elevator pitch. I think we also used the book Spin Selling.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#26

Post by mdifrgechd »

ta1234567890 wrote: post #12

Something important to know is the difference between an actual sale (i.e. closing) and a sales process. If you want to be a good sales person, you focus on the sale, but if you are building a company, you need to figure out a sales process (which usually includes marketing on one end and onboarding on the other, not just sales). It doesn't matter how good of a sales person you are if you are not getting any leads. C…

This is important and is largely what I wanted to add. At my company we have sales, who do the traditional listening to understand customer needs and working with them to build a deal that addresses those needs. But then we also have demand generation / sales development, focused on cold calling, getting leads, other marketing, etc, to get people through the door and you say. The OP needs to consider which of these (could be both) they want to build up their skills in. Reading about how to do sales will not help if you dont know how to get in front of people in the first place.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#28

Post by ghaff »

scapecast wrote: post #20

First time founder here who came from sales at a big consulting firm, and then and then had to develop the whole marketing and sales stack for our startup. Most of the books recommended in this thread assume that you're working for a established firm, with product / market fit, etc. Clearly that's not the case for a start-up. Read up on what Pete Kanzanjy publishes https://www.foundingsales.com/ - it covers the the "…

When you get to larger firms, there's a lot of support of sales (marketing but also engineering) that involves creating awareness, building the funnel (leads etc.), supporting sales reps in various ways, building products that customers actually want, etc. But none of those things actually involve directly asking for a PO, working on customer relationships, and so forth.

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#29

Post by geocrasher »

Be interested in solving real problems by providing real solutions. Make your pitch, answer questions. Then stop talking or else you'll talk your customer right out of the sale. Above all, be human and be open with others. They aren't buying your product or service, they're buying YOU.

Book: To sell is human. Daniel Pink

Re: Ask HN: How to learn sales?

#30

Post by HatchedLake721 »

This is honestly THE BEST, all-in-one resource I found for the exact same question I had - https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57daf6098419c27febcd4...

Secondly, follow Close.com blog, there is tons of great sales insight, and download their Startup Sales Resource Bundle - https://close.io/resources/startup-sales-resource-bundle

Thirdly, watch Steli Efti's keynote about startup selling https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55z5yl_naco&feature=emb_titl...

You're all set ;)

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