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Ask HN: How to learn to sell?

355 points rasulkireev | 2 comments | 16 Oct 22 15:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.408s | 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. brntsllvn ◴[16 Oct 22 23:33 UTC] No.33228175[source]▶
Choose a tiny niche. Solve their problem.

"Family Doctor's Office, Local Cafe, Small barber, etc." This is already too broad. Choose one.

Suppose you've chosen "small barber." Now narrow down further to "small barber seattle." Now narrow down further to "small barber, Seattle, Belltown."... And then... Narrow down further: small barber, Seattle, Belltown, men's beard trimming."

Now go physically talk to both of these people.

If they don't want your MVP, your MVP or vertical is wrong.

Write zero code.

replies(1): >>33233395 #
2. rasulkireev ◴[17 Oct 22 13:46 UTC] No.33233395[source]▶
My first narrowing down is the locality. I will start off with businesses in m area. Second narrowing is the Google Ratings. I will target location that have ~4 stars to help them improve that. Then I will start narrowing down on business type.