How to generate sales?

17 points by ld50 17 years ago | 15 comments

I'm currently bootstrapping my startup with what I can save from my day job. The biggest business related expense I have is my sales force, a sales outsourcing service that over promised and under-delivered. They claimed to be a full service sales outsourcing solution, but have amounted to nothing more than a half-assed lead generation service. My concept is great- it's a product and a service, margins are hyooge, interest is high, but there don't seem to be any closers in the company I hired. What's the next best approach short of paying 7k/month (which I can't afford) to hire a real sales outsourcing service? I've tried commission-only sales reps off of CL but they all jerk around because they're not getting a base pay and lose interest within a few days. Maybe I should break down and pay one of them hourly+commission? I've also tried selling it myself, which I'm still doing with the leads I get from the SoS, but like I said I have a day job and can't sneak away to make calls very often. Nobody's funding, so that's not really an option (though I am pursuing it on the side on the off chance that I get a bite). HALP!?!?!? Thoughts anyone?? I'm becoming increasingly frustrated as I continue to accrue business related expenses, yet have no supporting stream of revenue, save the day job.

petercooper 17 years ago |

Unless you plan on hiring someone to work for you (not some outsourcing deal, but an actual employee, or a sales person on commission who you can get excited) I think you should focus on selling it yourself, since you know it best, can gauge the quickest whether it's actually sellable, and you're passionate about it - the most important thing!

You can always outsource the sales later once you've figured out the best techniques, the most common objections, etc, and can instruct an outsourced team on those issues.

So where do you find the time to do this for real if you have a day job? Take a week of vacation time as soon as possible and work your ass off during it. If the margins are huge and interest is high and you can sell it well, then keep doing that and quit the day job.

tjic 17 years ago |

Read _Ready, Fire, Aim_, one of THE best business books ever.

http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Fire-Aim-Million-Agora/dp/047018...

YOU are the only one properly motivated to sell. You have to do it, until (at least) you have it down to a science. Then you can teach that science to others.

It's hard hard hard hard work. I hate marketing and sales. But you have to do it.

adammichaelc 17 years ago |

I can give feedback (have been in sales for 5 years, have done quite well and am thinking about starting up a software startup with some friends on campus), but will need more info. Shoot me an email adammichaelc@gmail.com and send your number. We can set up a time to chat next week. I'm going out of town for the weekend.

siong1987 17 years ago |

Since you are selling something, why you keep that as a secret here? Someone here might buy your product.

No hacker steals people's idea.

nazgulnarsil 17 years ago | |

corollary: all hackers steal other people's ideas in order to improve upon them.

skmurphy 17 years ago | |

If a brief description on HN or a perusal of his website allows someone to steal his idea and take business away from him then he has more than a sales problem.

netcan 17 years ago |

short of paying 7k/month (which I can't afford) to hire a real sales outsourcing service

The thing is, a direct sales process that works & functions predictably can be more akin to a production cost then a long winded marketing cost. If you run a training/consulting business a 'course' could cost you $A to prospect & sell $B to host & $C to teach. As long as $A stays more or less predictable & A+B+C still allows you to cover overheads, it works. 'Affording' shouldn't theoretically be an issue.

The part that is akin to an investment that you can afford or not is creating a system where A is predictable & reasonable. That might be achievable with a 7k/month outsourced sales. It may be achievable some other way. What you need to invest in (time and/or money) is finding it. So, your first couple of 7ks are an investment. An experiment. If it works, affording should no longer be part of the consideration.

There are companies that basically are a sales process just like there are companies that essentially are a product or a technology. If you are going to be a company that is a sales process or a big part of you is a sales process, then you probably need to be directly involved.

fdschoeneman 17 years ago |

You need to first develop a sales road map, and the easiest way to do that is to sell yourself. Find out what works, what doesn't. Only then will you know how to show other sales people how to sell, whether it's part of an internal team or outsourced. For a more complete rationale on this, I encourage you to read Steve Blank's "4 Steps to the Epiphany" which is all about how to develop customers.

-- Fred

sabat 17 years ago | |

Fred, thx for the reference to this book. Just ordered it on Amazon based on your review and tons of others I found.

skmurphy 17 years ago |

I have a number of questions that you don't have to answer in public but you might want to give some thought to:

How did you price the product? If margins are huge is it priced to high? Do you take "Cost of Sales" into your margin calculation? Perhaps it's priced too low?

What alternatives do you compete against? Do they have a direct sales force or rely on one or more indirect channels? How do they recruit sales people and what compensation plan do they offer? How long is their sales cycle?

If you have a long sales cycle it may be difficult to hire a commission only sales rep.

What sales tools and materials did you provide your sales folks? How did you train them to sell your product?

It's not clear from your post if you are able to sell the product if you spend time on it: are you? If not, I would spend more time on that before trying to hire someone else.

markessien 17 years ago |

Sell using email. Do it by phone. Don't blame your salesforce - if a company wants your product, they will pay for it, you don't need to hassle them with a sales force. If you are not getting any sales, even after people have been introduced to the concept, then maybe your concept is not perfect. Start asking the people who what is wrong.

And again, use email, so you can do this yourself.

shafqat 17 years ago |

I didnt realize there were "outsourced sales services" - do you have any examples? Of good ones that may cost a bit more?

mcdowall 17 years ago | |

Weve used Elance.com and Guru.com for numerous different outsourcing projects beforehand, including sales.

To be honest though it does depend on location, having had salaried, salary + commission, commission only, remote commission only it really depends on the product and its location.

For example if you need a couple of calls to close a sale then its probably worthwhile to have regional specific sales reps (commision only) as it will probably end up the client wants to meet to close.

Price is also a big factor, try cold selling anything more than £100 ($160) over the phone and your gonna be up against it!

tyohn 17 years ago |

Can I ask what you're selling?

dejb 17 years ago |

Maybe you need a co-founder.