If You Get a Little Better at Sales, You'll Be Way Ahead of the Market

In my dealings with fellow Computer Scientists, I've noticed that many don't see the point of sales and marketing. Instead, they focus on technology. That is not to say that they are all totally unaware of sales/marketing, but if they do see the point, they see it as someone else's task, definitely not one for them to get involved in. In another excellent presentation from the Business of Software 2008 conference, Paul Kenny (of Ocean Learning) talks about how to be a better salesperson. Crucially, he dispels many of the myths that technical people hold about the role, addressing those in startups in particular. Here's the video, with my notes below it.

• If you have a bad opinion of salespeople, it's likely to be because you have experienced the "bad apples", rather than sales being a terrible thing in principle.
  
• Myths
  
• Products "sell themselves". (False, though great products can sell themselves to an extent.)
• Our customers "don't like being sold to". (Actually, they don't like being sold to badly!)
• Techies don't "get" sales people. (Not true! You sell to VCs, to your friends/family supporters, to your first employees.)
  
• How many of the people who, say, view your marketing video, call you for a demonstration? If it's only 5% (likely!) then you need a person to follow up: normally it's not something wrong with the product that stops someone buying it; it's other things getting in the way.
• The people who have the need for your product are probably not the people with the money. You need a salesperson to go and talk to the people higher up, to make them feel the need.
• Talk about specific uses/users, not the science/how the product works. If you can convince your buyer that a user they know personally will benefit from it, that is a powerful sell.
• Users have "needs behind needs". People will tell you that the reason they buy an SUV is because they like the 4WD or stability. In practice they actually like SUVs because they make their families safer when driving, or for the feeling they get when they are able to look down on other drivers.
• Be prepared to go one-to-one with customers to understand their particular situations and what features they will use.
• Sales are very dependent on the emotional impact of your product. You need to position your product in people's minds. Trade-off between perceived cost and perceived value. Note that it's perception that matters, which can be managed by a salesperson.
• If you want a salesperson, don't recruit a stereotype! Start with what you need them to do: fast response (cheap product), or in-depth service (expensive product, high risk for client). They require different skills.
• What is your company culture? Will the salesperson you are recruiting exude that culture? Don't stitch customers up.
  
• Don't worry about admitting that your product isn't suitable for a customer's needs; they will remember you, as you'll probably be the first person who was honest with them in that way.
• Don't hire experience, hire attitude first (then experience!). You can't train attitude into someone. If a candidate hasn't researched your company much at all, or is lax in some things, don't hire them: they will be the same about your customers.
• Skills: self-starting/self-motivated, intelligent in questioning/listening, sounds/looks like they mean it, can deal with resistance, persistent.
• Sales take huge amounts of energy: have a dedicated person, rather than combining with other jobs. If you can, have more than one salesperson to spread the load, and motivate each other.
• If you have no dedicated person, and all of you in the company do some sales, come together and do it at the same time.
  
• Don't just reward deals: that will result in salespeople who don't care about the customer. Instead, reward contact with customers, and show interest in those skills.
• Sales can be boring: how can you vary your salesperson's job, on a regular basis?
• Train your salespeople regularly. They will go off the boil otherwise.
• For high-value salespeople, bonus them over 6-12 months, as such sales take a long time. Low value sales are different, probably bonus over short term.
  

Ultimately, show your salespeople that they are hugely important to you, motivate them, and ensure that they develop relationships with customers.