Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 78 posts

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#61

Post by philsnow »

kzhahou wrote: post #54
jonesb6 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are women not supposed to like football? I actually went to the University of Oregon and found women both attending the U of O and those who lived in greater Oregon to be more passionate about the game then many of my male friends/colleagues/classmates. It's a risk whenever you try to connect with someone over what you think might be a shared passion. Sports can be risky because not everyone like sports, but if you g…

It's not surprising that your males friends weren't into it, if I correctly assume that they are in tech. But obviously the overwhelming majority of football fans are guys.

> two women interviewers from Oregon, a football powerhouse

It's unclear to me from the context whether they are just from some town in the state of Oregon, or that they were alumna of the University of Oregon.

The gender ratio among college sports fans is a _lot_ closer to 50/50 than it is for pro sports fans.

If somebody assumed because I grew up in California that I'm a fan of the Bears, I would also not be particularly amused.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#62

Post by kelukelugames »

philsnow wrote: post #61
kzhahou wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not surprising that your males friends weren't into it, if I correctly assume that they are in tech. But obviously the overwhelming majority of football fans are guys.

> two women interviewers from Oregon, a football powerhouse It's unclear to me from the context whether they are just from some town in the state of Oregon, or that they were alumna of the University of Oregon. The gender ratio among college sports fans is a _lot_ closer to 50/50 than it is for pro sports fans. If somebody assumed because I grew up in California that I'm a fan of the Bears, I would also not be partic…

Is it because we suck? Cal grad here. :P

They were both Oregon alums. :)

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#63

Post by JabavuAdams »

jhwhite wrote: post #58

I really don't like the small talk bit. I don't want to chat about football, the weather, or necessarily my kid. I love him to death and I think he's awesome, but I'm usually busy at work. I want to get information, find out what's actionable, and get back to work.

Yeah, you need to know your audience.

If I get a phone call that starts with "Hi Mr. Adams, how are you?" My instinctive response is "busy, get to the point."

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#64

Post by dang »

odedgolan wrote: post #7
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

I wrote it on my spare time and based on my experience. Nobody proofread it and it's a takeaway for next time. I posted it on HN since I like HN, that's all.

HN users have already said it, but if it helps at all, we (I'm a moderator here) sure hope you won't let a nasty comment like that bother you. Plenty of non-native English speakers write excellent articles and comments for HN. What matters is the content.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#65

Post by dang »

mreiland wrote: post #3
mikestew wrote: post #2

I stuck with it to the end, but man, the lack of proofreading almost had me closing the browser tab. I'm not talking mistakes only a grammar Nazi would care about, but the kind where I read the sentence three times and still ask "what the hell does this mean?" I don't mean to be snarky, but maybe that's why emails to leads wasn't working so well. Bad grammar is my first filter for spam. Other than that, the article w…

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

This comment breaks the HN guidelines. Spewing bile is not ok, but especially not to insult someone who simply happened not to be a native speaker. Fortunately, users flagged it, which I hope communicated to the OP that it doesn't represent the community.

HN has users from many countries. They all do their best to communicate in English and we owe them respect for that. It's helpful to remember that the non-native speakers on HN command more languages than most of the rest of us do.

It's also not ok to rudely accuse someone of having "paid" for an article. If you think an article is spam you are welcome to flag it. If you find substantive criticism more appropriate, you are welcome to contribute some. But you can't use Hacker News as a dumping ground for resentments.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#66

Post by enraged_camel »

Frondo wrote: post #22
tptacek wrote: post #15

The bit about cold calls working better than anticipated rings true. I advised a company I help out with not to bother cold calling, because it never works, and was embarrassed to learn a few months later that it had been extremely effective just to have the founder ring random people up. The bit about remembering names, deploying kids names, and talking about football --- that part does not ring true. I've done sale…

Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random. As for remembering names, kids' names, etc., you're right, it's hokey to just try and build up a memorandum on a person and play-act at being a friend. What happens, though, when you spend a while talking with someone, is they do mention t…

>>Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random.

No, that's not cold-calling. Cold-calling refers to picking up the phone and calling people you have never spoken to before and will most likely not be interested -- at least initially -- in what you are selling. But if it's people you have spoken to briefly at a trade show, then you aren't cold-calling. You're following up.

Note that cold-calling doesn't have to be "random". In fact, calling companies and people randomly almost never works. You need to have a strategy in place and need to have done what's called "prospecting". For instance, if a construction company just became your client, then calling other construction companies and talking about how that company is using your product or service has a much higher chance of getting you at least one in-person meeting.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#67

Post by mreiland »

dang wrote: post #65
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

This comment breaks the HN guidelines. Spewing bile is not ok, but especially not to insult someone who simply happened not to be a native speaker. Fortunately, users flagged it, which I hope communicated to the OP that it doesn't represent the community. HN has users from many countries. They all do their best to communicate in English and we owe them respect for that. It's helpful to remember that the non-native sp…

I don't understand you, my analysis was correct.

1. It was written by a non-native speaker, and 2. It was thrown up on HN in an incomplete state to garner attention (the OP said as much).

This is not an informal HN post, this was specifically crafted as marketing and it NEEDS to be done in a professional manner.

As far as I'm concerned, if the OP starts getting their posts proofread as a result of my "rude" post, then I've done the OP more good than anyone else here.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#68

Post by mreiland »

odedgolan wrote: post #7
mreiland wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He then asked this question “How is a typical call with a prospect looks like?” ... I still don't understand what the guy asked, my best guess is he messed up the verb and it was supposed to read "how DOES a typical call with a prospect go?", or similar. It all makes me conclude that someone who is not a native English speaker was paid to write that article and it's bullshit filler flung out on various sites like H…

I wrote it on my spare time and based on my experience. Nobody proofread it and it's a takeaway for next time. I posted it on HN since I like HN, that's all.

Your English is good, but not good enough. If you're going to continue writing these articles in English, find a native speaker to proofread for you.

If you start getting your stuff proofread, my "asshole" comment will have done you more good than any of the touchy feely bullshit you've seen elsewhere in this thread.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#69

Post by Frondo »

enraged_camel wrote: post #66
Frondo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random. As for remembering names, kids' names, etc., you're right, it's hokey to just try and build up a memorandum on a person and play-act at being a friend. What happens, though, when you spend a while talking with someone, is they do mention t…

>>Cold calling is great! Well, because it's never absolutely cold--you do know that the person you're calling is at least a little interested in what you're selling. It's not random. No, that's not cold-calling. Cold-calling refers to picking up the phone and calling people you have never spoken to before and will most likely not be interested -- at least initially -- in what you are selling. But if it's people you h…

To clarify, I agree, if it's not the first they've heard from you, it's not cold calling. I do mean, though, that when you pick up the phone to cold call someone, you aren't calling at random- you're already calling someone who's in the right industry or whatever to have a chance of being interested in your product.

Re: What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman

#70

Post by GFK_of_xmaspast »

kzhahou wrote: post #54
jonesb6 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are women not supposed to like football? I actually went to the University of Oregon and found women both attending the U of O and those who lived in greater Oregon to be more passionate about the game then many of my male friends/colleagues/classmates. It's a risk whenever you try to connect with someone over what you think might be a shared passion. Sports can be risky because not everyone like sports, but if you g…

It's not surprising that your males friends weren't into it, if I correctly assume that they are in tech. But obviously the overwhelming majority of football fans are guys.

Why is that obvious.
Post reply on HN