Sales Tips Every Founder Should Know – Steli Efti
Startup Sales Handbook
steli@close.com
subject : indiehackers book
developers think sales people are sleazy
- persistent annoying people
sales – result driven communication
it’s cool to say ‘we don’t have a sales team’
- everyone has them, just called something else
- customer success engineers etc
sales for 1st 100 customers
- customer insights
- help with copywriting (terms to use)
- gives you context
Sales means a harsher feedback loop – we want to shy away from!
First 10 customers
- reach out to potential buyers, but ask for advice
- ‘built something new for people like you’
- people like giving advice
- what would it take to become one of my earliest customers
- give feedback, build out roadmap, be an advisor
- 50 emails a day
subject – their company name + SanityCheck
raise curisoity
- making the most of Search Console?
- more clicks?
One call to action – ‘would you like to jump on a call at X or Y?’
Options – 1,2,or 3
Doing business with big companies:
When someones at the table/meeting – you bring value and expertise, so be confident
Big companies are still a collection of humans – you are still selling to Mary.
Enterprise sales takes longer though, because you have to deal with lots of Marys.
Your customers/leads can teach you everything you need to know.
Be vunerable to get feedback and help:
- I’m just getting started with this kind of stuff, how could I have improved about this demo?
I’m getting started with this kind of stuff, what could I do to improve the trial process of SanityCheck?