[lacbuddah]

Very true comment, "self-select themselves out", ie enterprise sales people want to make money, usually immediately, and not have to desperately work hard to close. If people aren't already BUYING, you have to be SELLING - these aren't the same thing. Most successful enterprise sales people are given a pipeline and simply facilitate the buying process - most are not hard closing.

1. You'll want to become much more visible, attend networking events and hone in on the right person. Don't just talk to irrelevant people, asks questions to filter out the wrong people, politely exchange cards and keep it moving - get to the right person and then have the lengthy conversation. BUT BE PREPARED, have a 20-30 second demo video ready on your phone, nail down your elevator pitch, etc and sell them on wanting to sell your product.

2. Demo your product at events, demo days, venture capital or investment events, contests, etc so that you get eye balls on your product. The person you want is either in the audience and will find you, or you'll get an even better unforeseen opportunity.

BUT all of this will take much longer than you think. Good luck!

[mgamache]

Both comments are right on target. "[they] simply facilitate the buying process" and the question "how they plan to cope with not having inbound leads" are pure gold and articulate my frustration with enterprise salespeople. They would not typically be the types to play the long game at a startup when they could be making real money.

thanks guys