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Ask HN: How to learn to sell?

355 points rasulkireev | 1 comments | 16 Oct 22 15:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.25s | source

Hey HN,

I am a solo founder that just finished writing code for my project (MVP) and am ready to find clients.

- for the sake of the question, my clients will be small physical businesses. Think, Family Doctor's Office, Local Cafe, Small barber, etc.

I will be developing a blog for SEO purposes and doing other things to promote my business online. However, I believe the key to success here will be "Cold Sales". I have never done that before. So, if you could recommend a book, a blog post, other online resources, or you just have a random advice that I could learn from, I would be very thankful.

Suffice it to say I will be starting out ASAP, even though I don't know anything. I believe practice is the best teacher. However, if there are any resources that could help me get up and running quicker that would be awesome. Thanks a ton in advance.

1. decentrality ◴[16 Oct 22 19:12 UTC] No.33226324[source]▶
First impression: this is the reverse order, because you started selling the moment you chose to invest in this business idea.

You already know the value, otherwise you would not have made it. But more so, you ought to have audience already engaged before you write the first line of code, if it is a code-oriented value proposition for your brand.

Getting market share, building traction, cultivating momentum, these are all totally separate of having the product actually online. The key is the value proposition. And if you cannot get attention for that, without the product even there perhaps, you have no "yellow brick road" to travel, and sales do not make themselves. But if you get attention for something, all you have to do then is follow through on the promise of your brand, and deliver the value.

Cold sales work great when your value proposition is natural, and market is not cluttered. But I would refer you to "The Lean Brand" for the real mindset you need, no matter how you sell:

http://leanbrandbook.com/