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Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

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Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#11

Post by rhapsodic »

j88439h84 wrote: post #8
zbentley wrote: post #6

Never underestimate the capability and connections of a good sales person. There are lots of ways to waste money on sales, but if you are careful to avoid them, a single experienced professional sales person can work wonders, even for a startup that is still a few pivots away from its final shape. This may not be the most HN-compatible opinion, and there are certainly many additional ways to sell to big companies, bu…

> There are lots of ways to waste money on sales, but if you are careful to avoid them Do you have any tips?

I do. Don't shop price when hiring sales people. Hire the best available at the market rate.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#12

Post by muzani »

Cold emails work. Find the best use case for the company. Attach a link or screenshot why/how it would help them. Take a screenshot of their site or chat box, then edit it with an example of your bot in action.

Follow up once. Not too many times. Sometimes people ignore the first time because they're in their emails looking for something else.

Some people prefer cold calling, but I find the success rates are much, much lower and you can't convey the same information. I think cold calling is only popular because it's easy to monitor failure rates.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#14

Post by whalesalad »

muzani wrote: post #12

Cold emails work. Find the best use case for the company. Attach a link or screenshot why/how it would help them. Take a screenshot of their site or chat box, then edit it with an example of your bot in action. Follow up once. Not too many times. Sometimes people ignore the first time because they're in their emails looking for something else. Some people prefer cold calling, but I find the success rates are much, mu…

I’d love to see stats that this works. I don’t believe it.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#15

Post by thrower123 »

Getting connected with some VARs (value added resellers) can be helpful. If you can provide some piece that enhances their package, you can often get included in as a part of some big deals that you might not otherwise have any shot at, and build up some connections that way. Once you're in, and people know you as somebody that does work in X niche, they can start coming to you to do additional customizations or follow-on work in that area.

It's not all roses; sometimes the extra layers of indirection between you and the actual customer can be a little onerous.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#16

Post by goatherders »

I do this for a living for other companies (no I do not want your business) but the most overlooked aspect of B2B selling is patience. Your prospect has many suitors vying for their attention, many bosses that must sign off an the sale, and a legal department and IT department that all want to feel included. Measure your pipeline/sales by quarter, not month. Patience. Patience. Patience. Build rapport, be useful and valuable. Be prepared to do this for a long time.

That's how it works.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#17

Post by thrav »

goatherders wrote: post #16

I do this for a living for other companies (no I do not want your business) but the most overlooked aspect of B2B selling is patience. Your prospect has many suitors vying for their attention, many bosses that must sign off an the sale, and a legal department and IT department that all want to feel included. Measure your pipeline/sales by quarter, not month. Patience. Patience. Patience. Build rapport, be useful and…

Depending on how big they’re talking, year long cycles are not uncommon.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#18

Post by gk1 »

Usually some combination of marketing and high-touch sales. Marketing makes buyers want to buy the product[1], and sales converts interest into a contract.

For B2B it usually takes three months from first contact to closed deal. That means you need a healthy pipeline of deals to keep the cash flowing.

Crossing the Chasm[2] is a must-read and classic book about marketing and selling B2B software.

[1] As I say, make buyers want to pay: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/buyers/

[2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC119W/

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#19

Post by thrav »

rhapsodic wrote: post #11
j88439h84 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are lots of ways to waste money on sales, but if you are careful to avoid them Do you have any tips?

I do. Don't shop price when hiring sales people. Hire the best available at the market rate.

Reward them extremely well when they over perform. One sales person can easily create more ARR than 3 or 4 average ones. Make sure you pay them accordingly, and you can save yourself a lot of headaches and wasted hires.

Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?

#20

Post by wolco »

zbentley wrote: post #6

Never underestimate the capability and connections of a good sales person. There are lots of ways to waste money on sales, but if you are careful to avoid them, a single experienced professional sales person can work wonders, even for a startup that is still a few pivots away from its final shape. This may not be the most HN-compatible opinion, and there are certainly many additional ways to sell to big companies, bu…

Wish I could offer more votes.

Having the right sales (not marketing) person can be the difference between success and something else. The right sales person can target and create a relationship the wrong person will just waste resources.

The most successful companies founders I've seen combo of sales and technical. If you are a technical solo founder get an experienced sales vp and give them 20%.

Marketing is usually a team effort so a more junior team can help. Don't hire someone to do both.. hire for sales first.

Sales before tales.

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