[spectramax]

Slightly tangential: Does anyone get fed up by sales people? Especially aggresive and pushy sales reps? When a car dealership a fun thing to go to?

As a consumer, sales people bother me to no end. I was in Delhi last year, went to buy a silk saree and people were going around left and right trying to sell this and that. I prefer going to a store in Paris and skip this noise.

IMO - I could be completely and utterly wrong/naive in terms of the actual effectiveness of hiring sales people, but personally & emotionally want to rally the world to end the traditional sales model. Sell to me in the right context and without intervention and attention seeking. Sales representatives are pop-up ads for the real world - I want an adblock and block all these people.

So, we wanted to buy Solidworks CAD license for our company. I go on their website: https://www.solidworks.com/how-to-buy -> I fill out the stupid form, then some asshole calls my cell, tells me to schedule a meeting to "understand my needs", we setup a meeting in person at our company. Got a conference room booked and he starts his dog and pony show. I wish I can get rid of him. He was probably a nice person but the situation is getting in my way of the goal - As a consumer, I am willing to pay for this software but I can't without these hurdles. That makes it painful. We decided to go with Autodesk's Inventor license because it does everything we want it to do - and their prices are transparent. No need to call any one. Just click, buy and we're done in about 10 mins: https://www.autodesk.com/products/inventor/overview

Fuck sales, I am sorry but that's how I feel. Sell your products in a "pull" model than "push" model. Don't piss off your customers. Ofcourse, I am ignoring the other side - what would I do if I were running a business. Not sure, and not the consumer's problem.

[whoisjuan]

I use to think like that because I was always thinking about software the same way as I think about buying things as a consumer. Basically thinking about products the way I buy them from Amazon. Or buying a car as you mentioned.

But the reality of software sales is different. There are people at companies that get paid to hear software vendors pitch their solutions. Those are decision-makers who need to execute a budget and improve processes. They are dependent on finding the right vendors.

It's way different when you think about that way. If you're a decision-maker and have the power to buy software (and it's part of your job) you want to hear from salespeople. It's part of your duties.

If you have a problem in your organization and someone comes offering software that somehow solves it and you have the budget to buy this kind of software it would be irresponsible of you to not hear what they have to offer.

[spectramax]

Sure when stakes are high, the sales people are of different caliber. It becomes a big team that's trying to find the best solution for the company - there are written project proposals, reviews and decision meetings. They don't use sleezy techniques and unruly ways to "get them". Or aggressively piss people off.

But that's not what this website appears to targetting: https://salesforfounders.com/

My perception is that 90% of the sales people I meet are unpleasant just like 90% of the ads I see are bad. Then you come across a cool Hermes advertisment that you want to sit through because its beautiful.

[louisswiss]

> They don't use sleezy techniques and unruly ways to "get them". Or aggressively piss people off.

That's definitely NOT what S4F is about.

One of the main reasons I made this course is that most founders - especially technical founders - still have this impression of sales as being sleazy or aggressive.

I'm sure that is still out there today - in the used car industry, for example.

But - in SaaS at least - sales has moved on.

Why?

Because it had to.

Simply put, when you are selling a SaaS product (with free trials, money-back guarantees, monthly billing...) it isn't worth making the sale if it's a bad fit.

Lying, pressuring people into buying something they don't need, being aggressive just doesn't pay anymore. Yes - they might sign up for one month - but then they'll churn and you'll have spent more acquiring them than they paid you.

Instead, S4F teaches you how to move to a 'team' mindset...

- how to understand your customer - how to align your goals with theirs - how to create a shared success plan (so they don't just buy, they actually get value from your product and don't churn) - how to nudge them along that path to success

[unlinked_dll]

I feel this comment deep in my soul, having bad experiences with mathworks licensing. It's crazy how much friction some companies have in the way of customers paying them. But that's the price you pay for not having one price.