you either know how to sell or you don't
in my experience someone who programs usually can't sell
hire a marketing expert from your industry
Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
31–40 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#32The best book on selling complex items like software that I have ever known, I got from the best salesperson I ever met: the book is
Neil Rackham: Spin SellingRe: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#33The Mom Test teaches you how to ask the right questions to make sure potential customers actually have a need for and will pay for what you are building vs. lying to be polite. The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you https://a.co/d/8rxZlJ7
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
What software do you sell? Mind sharing a link?
It's called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). It's an all-in-one management client for reMarkable e-paper tablets that works locally/offline, and lets users escape the manufacturer's proprietary cloud/subscription. Works like an iTunes-for-reMarkable. https://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/
This is great, and looking forward to the Pro support!
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#35The best book on selling complex items like software that I have ever known, I got from the best salesperson I ever met: the book is Neil Rackham: Spin Selling
Second vote for Spin Selling from me. Spin Selling is a must read for anyone doing long-term sales-- in particular, selling software that has a long sales cycle like a year from the time you get a prospect until you close the sale. But it has other key concepts for smaller software packages too that you'll find useful if you're doing something smaller.
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
What software do you sell? Mind sharing a link?
It's called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). It's an all-in-one management client for reMarkable e-paper tablets that works locally/offline, and lets users escape the manufacturer's proprietary cloud/subscription. Works like an iTunes-for-reMarkable. https://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/
>export documents with highlight annotations
SOLD. My biggest gripe with reMarkable
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#37As someone who has made lots of purchasing decisions for software (ERPs, Electronic Health Records, productivity tools) at places I've worked over the last 18 years:
I don't want to talk to salespeople, only product designers, developers, executives, and support staff. They are the people who make the stuff and/or are left holding the bag for the product when the salesperson is jetting off to their next meeting.
Same goes with service contracts for leased business equipment (copiers, postage machines, alarm/security systems) - let me talk to the "support" staff who don't read their own technical bulletins BEFORE I sign so I can decide not to go with a vendor who "requires" full admin rights to my server to manage their copiers.
This doesn't necessarily scale past small-mid size businesses (mine have been up to $20ARR and ~150 people). The occasions I've talked only with sales, there have been broken promises, missed deadlines, and a big mismatch between what we were sold and what we got.
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#38Triangle Selling has good sales processes for an agency.
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#39Crossing the Chasm: Geoffrey A. Moore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm
Basically, there's a lot more to sales than just "generate leads." You need to pick a "right-sized" market, tailor the product to the market (but not too much, so you can go after other markets,) and then as you grow, move to bigger markets.
The markets you go after when your company is small are very different than when your company is established. Furthermore, small differences in your product are critical: A tiny feature or option might be critical in a tiny niche that you need to get started; but a completely different feature or option is needed when you're able to target a larger audience.
Re: Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
#40It is like any other publishing business, and one inevitably becomes educated in global Copyright and Trademark policy by legal staff.
People only make money reselling the same software/services, and the authoring process is _always_ a loss of time/money (only fools try to optimize fixed engineering/development labor costs)... Note, Microsoft has resold the same product for 30 years, and no one seems to notice. Apple is a pyramid power structure (zero vertical movement for most engineers), so without Steve Jobs on the chair it too stagnates into its own predictable narrow market sector.
The joke in the industry is "if you succeed in your career, than you will inevitably end up in Marketing." You need to observe the four types of customer segmentation up close (and why you should ignore 3/4 types.) I recommend going to a few trade-shows in your area, and listen closely to sales pitches (think about how they make sales revenue, as it is usually not apparent at first.)
Study the SAP/Oracle sales model, as they extract a phenomenal amount of revenue from traditionally difficult markets.
"Don't compete to be at the bottom", as there are people that will bankrupt themselves irrationally gambling on things they plagiarized. Pick a niche product/service difficult to clone, and develop a close relationship with large customers. Ask "how can you add unique value for your users", and don't fall into the IT service industry role for one customer.
Never expose >14% of your annual revenue to any one project/person/customer, or you may as well just go directly to a casino.
Have a tax strategy (talk with local corporate accountants before you start), and also attend/chat AMCHAM webinars because they are great if you do business in the US.
Many vaporware firms are no different than the Crazy Eddie story:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Eddie
YMMV, I have risk-aversion biases given the journeys differ for most. =3