
Startups Need to Focus on Sales, Not Marketing (2014) - ekpyrotic
http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2014/06/03/jessica-livingston-why-startups-need-to-focus-on-sales-not-marketing/
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mikekchar
Ha ha. I once worked on a team where the "sales" people made a "partnership"
with a famous company. We paid the famous company for this privilege and were
able to advertise that the famous company used our product. We also agreed to
do custom work on the product for the famous company for free. As part of the
agreement, the "sales" people signed a contract that said that we would pay a
huge penalty if we didn't deliver a certain piece of functionality in a
certain time frame. After the developers discovered this, the "sales" people
were informed that the functionality was impossible (as in it is a generally
unsolvable problem).

Interestingly, when it all went bust, the company laid off all the developers
and retained the "sales" people in the hope that they could somehow get some
revenue flowing in. Not so funny at the time, but pretty hilarious to think
back upon now. It has certainly shaped the kind of questions I ask when I
interview for positions ;-).

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brightball
I remember working for a dev shop a decade ago where the sales people would
sell anything before even asking the developers if it was possible. If they
were ever met with a "that's technically impossible with current technology"
the response was usually an inspirational quote about finding the answer
followed by walking out the door.

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vit05
"you need to talk individually to early adopters to make a really good
product" The text is really about this.

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andrewfelix
It's presented as a really black and white argument. Marketing and a focus
sales are not mutually exclusive at all.

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fpoling
A good salesperson not only sells the product but also an idea. This way one
can get a customer partially pay for the development of the final product
bringing important source of financing.

Having a good salesperson is very important even if the product is not yet
ready. A sales

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cableshaft
"A sales-(end of comment)"

Looks like your product (comment) was not yet ready. Where's your salesperson?
:)

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fpoling
The last line was a leftover from a draft and should be ignored...

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danieltillett
Selling is hard. Cold selling is like walking barefoot over broken glass. I
really admire people who can cold sell.

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mjevans
I really hate them.

The best thing a sales team can do is ensure that a relevant description of
their product is found when I search for something.

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danieltillett
Yes being on the other end is not so fun.

The basic problem is that very few customers that can really benefit from a
product actually make the effort to find the product. I sell a product that is
vastly superior to all other solutions, yet almost none of my customers come
organically via a Google search despite being number 2 in the niche. Almost
all our new customers come indirectly after losing a contract against a
competitor using our product. I have to say that this is the best way to sell.

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brudgers
Original discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7842282](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7842282)

~~~
DrScump
(Published Jun 3, 2014)

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srcmap
oldie but goodie

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diskcat
b-but isn't marketing purpose to generate sale?

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cheez
Sales is the process by which you take a qualified lead and convert them to a
paying customer.

As a startup, before you start making money, your job is not to find a ton of
people to close. Your job is to find out how to close people.

It's a machine, a process for growth:

    
    
        1. Idea
        2. Validation
        3. MVP
        4. Sell to eager buyers
        5. Iterate
        6. ???
    

I don't know, I'm still on 4.

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andrewfelix
The author cites examples from Stripe and Pinterest, which are actually just
anecdotes around usability testing, not recruitment of users.

I would argue focusing on sales puts you at risk of narrowing your scope and
broader appeal.

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wj
A narrow scope starting out is a good thing. It allows you to focus on finding
what works before you try to scale it.

