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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: 0.216s | 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.

Show context
abhiyerra ◴[16 Oct 22 17:02 UTC] No.33225201[source]▶
Sales is three things:

  - Sourcing. Figuring out where your customers' hangout so you can reach them there.
  - Prospecting. Reaching out to your potential customer base.
  - Closing. Going through with a deal including sales collateral, proposals, and contracts.
The entire process should be a system that is tweaked as you execute it. Great books I’ve read are:

  - Ultimate Sales Machine
  - Sales EQ
  - Fanatical prospecting
  - Challenger sale. For the actual closing process
  - The Close.com blog is pretty great.
replies(1): >>33228733 #
1. grantsch ◴[17 Oct 22 00:59 UTC] No.33228733[source]▶
this just isn't true

for b2b it really boils down to the following:

data

distribution/marketing

discovery

closing

data is challenging for most companies

distribution is somewhat challenging and very challenging if your offer sucks

discovery is easy - it's a formula

closing is extremely hard and costly to get someone who can do it by definition