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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: 0.424s | 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. kamphey ◴[17 Oct 22 01:25 UTC] No.33228904[source]▶
I would recommend Influence by Robert Cialdini.

And I would look for influential people and organizations instead of cold calling. You wont get 1% of deals closed. It will be closer, much closer, to 0% and you will feel like a failure.

Instead, seek out organizations and people who actively help the businesses you are helping. Small Biz associations, chambers of commerce. These wont be content creators nor "influencers" but rather gate keepers and influential organizations.

Selling to people who are actively looking for solutions is infinitely easier than cold calling.