
Direct sales for SaaS startups – our experience and tips - pau_alcala
https://blog.palabra.io/learning-to-listen-direct-sales-tips-for-early-stage-startups
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drchiu
Questions that I've had good experience with:

* What's your problem? w/ Tell me more (as follow up)

* What are you doing right now for that problem?

* What other solutions have you tried?

* Are those other solutions working? Why / why not?

* Why do you feel our product might work for you?

The last question is a BS filter. If they're just using you for their own
research purposes / get their existing vendor to bid lower, their response
here will sound thin. Prospects who are early in their decision making won't
have much to say here (or they are already late in their decision making and
have made a decision to go with another vendor and are just going on a call
with you to say that they've done their DD). The more they have to say, the
closer they are to the finish line (ie. sale).

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pau_alcala
we have similar questions except for the last one, really interesting
addition! It takes the conversation from hypotheticals to the product. I'll
add something else that worked for us, when they tell us a solution they've
tried, we'll dig deep in how they came up with it. That usually gets people
talking about the issues they've been having without asking directly

~~~
drchiu
That's a good one (asking about how they came up with their decision). It
helps elucidate their purchasing logic and process.

To elaborate on our last question, it's also a tactic used to help potential
customers convince themselves to buy something. Hey (the email app) did this
in their prelaunch by asking people who wanted to get on their early launch to
email them with reasons why they wanted to be on the list. There's a bit of
reverse psychology at play here. Cognitive dissonance must be resolved.

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HatchedLake721
Sales is about listening, not talking. Great that you came to this conclusion!

Anyone with tech background who doesn't where to start with SaaS sales, here's
a step by step masterpiece for you by Entrepid -
[https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57daf6098419c27febcd4...](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/57daf6098419c27febcd400b/t/5b0b4dc68a922dbfa263b389/1527467516482/Entrepid_How+To+Sell.pdf)

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howmayiannoyyou
"The biggest challenges to direct sales is finding the right prospects and
knowing how to show them value as quickly as possible."

Industry segmentation then targeting sales resources to segments. Those
resources are your salespeople, ad materials, trade-shows, etc. The industry
segmentation is prioritized for segments that benefit the most from the
product and have money to spend. You don't focus on the markets or company
sizes you want. You focus on who really needs your product because it really
makes a difference in their bottom line.

There have never been more brick and mortar, grey haired experts available for
hire to SAAS providers. These folks have the domain expertise to look at your
product and provide the message, network and outreach to grow your user base.

I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with business
development (or marketing) experience but without industry expertise. Is it
agism? Not sure, but I had this experience interviewing for a Marketing
Director role with a major Valley SAAS firm who opted for a generalist and who
I understand hasn't seen more than 10% growth since. Sometimes the hard way is
the right way.

This was a bit ranty, but it's been on my mind for some time.

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Swizec
> I cringe mightily reading SAAS job postings looking for someone with
> business development (or marketing) experience but without industry
> expertise.

It’s ego, scrappiness, and company building.

The number of times I recommended an expert we should hire as consultants to
teach us how to do things[1] and the founders just don’t wanna ... it’s silly.
Always the same excuses: we want to build experise in house, invent from first
principles, we need employees not experts, we can’t pay that much, we’re
disruptors and old advice doesn’t apply ... bleh.

So you get marketing departments run by folk who have never made a buck online
on their own. All the book knowledge, none of the visceral experience. It’s
ridiculous

[1] I hvae a network of those because of my sidehustling

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howmayiannoyyou
Agree. The arrogance is self-destructive b/c I see a lot of SAAS that would
survive and thrive with less self-obsession and an open-mind.

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koolhead17
Most of my sales learning has come from books:

* Competing against luck

* When Coffee & Kale Compete

* Crossing the Chasm

First two books talk about Jobs to be Done. And most importantly who is your
customer, someone:

* Pain

* Desire to progress

* Willingness to pay

The other book talks about finding early adopters or pitching to right
customer as in the journey of product development.

In the end, early day of sales is more about you/team/likeblity. People will
ask about security, money in bank, team size and what not. It will hurt,
affect but after those 10 interaction, there will be one guy/team believing in
you as you are and want to see you and them succeed.

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mattbee
This is good advice but it's more tightly expressed in The Mom Test by Rob
Fitzpatrick (my all purpose response to most SaaS sales blogs).

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pau_alcala
lol totally agree. I quoted The Mom Test in the post because it was incredibly
helpful to me

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mijail
Great engineers are also really great salespeople.

The problem is that engineers often feel like they have to put on their
salesperson hat on and it all goes out the door.

Sales is a "state," the sales system you use varies greatly based on what
phase you are as a company. The same tactics don't apply when you are looking
for product market fit vs when you have reached it.

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hutch120
This article, like so many others, seems to think enterprise B2B selling will
somehow translate to startup SaaS businesses.

Ask yourself, what is your favourite paid service that you use nearly every
day and then talk to your friends about? Maybe it's an awesome game, or a cool
weather app, or an accounting package, or whatever... build a product/service
that is so compelling that your users will sell it for you.

I'm in no way affiliated with Sabri Suby, but I recommend checking out his
concepts... #1 start by giving your customers something for free and begin to
build trust. Google this: "Sabri Suby Magic Lantern Technique".

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maxtynan
This is really good. If you can embed these simple/time-tested rules and the
Palabra-specific nuance in the sales onboarding/training process you'll
eventually need to build, I think you'll set your sales teams up for success
long-term.

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cloogshicer
Thanks for the post, I really enjoyed it!

My problem is always, how do you get the conversations in the first place?

And how do you frame it so that people really open up and tell you about their
problems (not just related to your product)?

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keyserfaty
One thing that works for me (palabra.io co-founder here) for them to 'open up'
is to upfront let them know that everything they can share is useful and then
something like 'I really have no idea about this space, it would be great if
you could share your experience and your thoughts'. I think that people
usually share more when they feel they are being useful. I wouldn't say
something like that on a sales call but it's great when doing customer
interviews.

In terms of getting the leads in the first place, I would say
connections/people you know. But would love to hear what others are doing.

~~~
cloogshicer
Thanks for your reply and advice, will try that!

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rodolphoarruda
> This conversation usually starts by reaching the prospect you think your
> product would work for, and sharing why you think your solution would be
> good for them.

Yeah, this reminds me of "The Mom Test" almost instantaneously.

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pau_alcala
Yes! I was heavily inspired by The Mom Test while writing this, and it's
mentioned a bit later on :)

