[ChuckMcM]

The challenging sales cycle (if there is one) is this, "If this feature were added, would you commit to using this product?" that question is hard to ask and answer in a web based freemium world. In the enterprise sales cycle I've seen customers decline to buy 'for lack of a feature' and having that be a way to say "no" without explicitly saying no. When I worked closely with the enterprise account teams at NetApp that was always something to consider.

[ryandrake]

That's a good way to qualify features, too, so you don't end up building a Franken-product full of half-baked ideas from people who aren't even paying customers.

Bad salesperson: "Here's a laundry list of features that people say that they'd want in our product. Go off and implement them to make my job easier."

Good salesperson: "I have a firm commitment from Company Abc that they'll buy a 5,000 seat license if we implement this one feature. Is this a worthwhile investment?"