Should have intimate connections in the Industry
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/25/amazon_fails_to_sto...
Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
101–110 of 115 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and because of past product launches and revenue numbers and exits people pay me to hear what I have to say So the economical nature of that reality became the idea behind our “advisory” business, exhibit a
Thank you for your reply. For me it's unfortunately the case that I have lots of ideas and don't execute on them. Mostly, I think, because of doubts about getting to something profitable.
I've been there too. Lots of unknowns. The biggest jump for me was when a startup I was working for folded and I realized I didn't have to interview somewhere immediately because my side project at the time had enough promise and I needed the time to meet with people about it.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
Counter point: I've been doing integration for system monitoring things, this can be fully integrated in a few days. The new trendy (and really great tool) is datadog, a HN company. They went out the window when the trial expired after 1 week and their asshole sales were at war against any extension. How am I supposed to demo the tool and sell it internally when it can't even be accessed? As if it were not enough, th…
Across the plethora of system monitoring apps who all claim they can do everything, how do you decide and identify what fits?
There are no apps that can do everything, there are different use cases that require at least 3 different tools to cover logs, system metrics, application metrics, alerts and performance instrumentation.
If you've never worked in that domain, you can trial the tool and figure out what they're about. Short version is to go for ELK + Datadog + NewRelic.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Most big corps have anti-corruption policies that prevent decision makers or key influencers from letting sales people take them to golfing or to concerts.
No they have policies against paying for those concerts or golf games.
IBM's BCG for example has very strict rules about giving and/or receiving gifts.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#105Contrary to the main sentiment in this thread I've done B2B sales with no prior connections whatsoever. My approach is threefold. Build something that either doesn't exist or is considerably better and cheaper than competition. Give amply time for demoing, like six months free with no strings attached. Be patient. If I had to choose one approach I'd say demo your service for months so they can get accustomed to it. M…
Agreed on the demo time.
If it takes non-trivial infrastructure (firewalls, AD integration, what have you), it can take 2 or 3 months just to get the demo running. If your demo license only lasts two weeks, no decision maker ever sees a running instance, but sometimes somebody in the chain is too embarrassed to admit it took so long.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Across the plethora of system monitoring apps who all claim they can do everything, how do you decide and identify what fits?
There are no apps that can do everything, there are different use cases that require at least 3 different tools to cover logs, system metrics, application metrics, alerts and performance instrumentation. If you've never worked in that domain, you can trial the tool and figure out what they're about. Short version is to go for ELK + Datadog + NewRelic.
Interesting. What does Datadog cover that NewRelic doesn’t?
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#107Cold 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…
In my experience, you should follow up 4-5 times. In many instances, we receive positive responses much later in the follow-up cycle. For context: Selling to 100-plus-person SaaS B2B organisations.
I see some companies doing this, especially if it's something with a trial. So I assume it works. But it seems like if you try too many times, you end up getting people who are not that interested, but have some free time, and aren't willing to pay much. Which is fine for larger companies who have to sell to late adopters.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#108Cold 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.
A little anecdotal, but I get about 50% response rate. This includes selling weird stuff, like once I tried to sell brownies to wedding planners.
In terms of job hunting, I got about 2 out of 4 responses this way, so it's still a 50% rate. This actually landed me my first job.
This was from a few years back though. It might be harder now that everyone has automated messaging and CRMs designed to look like they're from a human being (probably illegally without an unsubscribe button).
It depends a lot on how you do it. I think the message has to hit well, it has to look personal enough, hence the screenshots have to be designed for that specific company. But done wrong, it can look a bit desperate.
You also have to find someone who can make a decision. A lot of people are terrified of this, but higher ranked people can actually forward you to the right VP in charge. We've cold contacted the CEO of the biggest media company in the country this way, and he was very happy with the meeting.
Some people prefer a wider net, like 1000 messages a day, with a 2% success rate. That's fine too. Sometimes it gets better results, because you end up with people more desperate for a solution. I just think the personal cold email method works better than cold calls, and it's a lot more fun.
For founders, personal emails help, because you can ask them why they rejected you, and that helps in improving the product or strategy.
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 usuall…
Just curious because I've come across differing definitions of this. How would you define the differentiate between sales and marketing ?
Correction : * How would you differentiate between sales and marketing
Re: Ask HN: How do B2B startups sell to corporations?
#110The advice I'll give is based on my experience as cofounder of an early online banking technology company back in the mid-90s. We started with three people in rented class-C space and over seven years did high six-figure deals with large and small banks including Fleet, Bank of America, Citi and others. There's not really a "how it works" for this. If I had to tell you how it works I'd say: it works by you making fri…
This is all good advice. A note jumping through the legal/paperwork hurdles with large companies: be prepared for it to take a long time. A very long time in some cases. It all depends on who you’re working with, how big the company is, and how much money the deal is worth.
Sometimes you can do a deal for a smaller dollar value, less intense legal / financial hurdle. Get on the approved vendor list, receive income while you negotiate a larger more complicated approval process for a larger deal.