[throwawayosiu1]

This actually scares me.

I want to bootstrap an SaaS company focused on enterprise / b2b soon and being bootstraped I can't afford to hire an sales rep/ account manager (or be one myself while working on the product) for what looks like a long process.

This is definitely a scary thought in my opinion.

Fingers crossed, I hope that's a good problem to have.

[consumer451]

We are exactly at this stage right now. Bootstrapped, enterprise SaaS, ready for initial sales. This post could not have been more timely for me.

I'm not sure if this is possible in your niche, but we are partnering with a consulting company which provides services in the same industry/niche. We will give them a cut from the sales to do this exact process. Many leads will come from them as well. I could not imagine doing this any other way at the moment. Eventually we will certainly hire a full time salesperson.

edit: we got really lucky that this consulting company had some biz dev people who used to do SaaS sales at a previous employer.

[goatherders]

You have to make time for sales. You HAVE to. To say there is no time because you are busy developing is dangerous. Even one hour per week can be meaningful. But you have to do it. No one knows your product, service or vision the way you do.

One of my companies builds the sales funnel for SAAS and digital agencies. We handle the entire top of the funnel (lead gen and nurturing) so by the time it's a qualified opp it's actually a prospect that has an identified pain, time line and budget to go with an understanding of our clients solution to their problem. But we dont ever close the business precisely because in digital and SAAS the results are so much better from the heartbeat then the hired gun.

[bharris315]

In our experience, the founder should close the first 3-10 enterprise deals on their own. When you chose to outsource, you may close some deals, but you lose out on the early customer product feedback.

The relationships with your early customers are key. You need to make your early customers your biggest fans to show how your product changed their business through references and/or mini-case studies.

[consumer451]

Oh, I am definitely in on all calls at this point. And thanks for the rest of the advice, I am trying to follow it already.

[wazoox]

As Joel Sposky said, even the best, most necessary product doesn't sell itself magically. Setting up a website, selling on Amazon basically won't make you close a single sale.

You must devote a day or two a week to sales and marketing, making noise on LinkedIn and a blog, and awesome videos, then connect to people and propose them a demo of your service. That's crucial to market fit, you must have at least some prospective customers to be sure your products solves an actual pain for them.