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Sales Sales Sales - Help Please

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monthlylocal

Hi Guys and Gals,

Am looking for a little advice please.

I have developed a unique piece of software aimed at small businesses. Whilst I am not going to give away the exact use of the software, the target market is SME's and the core use of the software is to help businesses sell more and develop more sales leads.

I launched a beta version about a year ago and encouraged people to sign up for free and trial the software. In 4 months we had around 700 registrations and some very positive feedback. However we also realised we had some problems with the software and I withdrew it to work on it and rectify the issues.

A year on and I am almost ready to relaunch. Obviously it will be much more difficult to attract customers this time as the product will be a paid subscription and not free. . . . . . .so this leads me to my problem - I can't sell ! !

I hate everything about selling, yet I know how important it is to my business. I'm naturally very shy and really dislike lifting the phone and calling new people (even though I know this product will add value for them). I have tried to overcome it, but at the end of the day i have to accept it's just not my forte and something I am very uncomfortable with.

So what are my options? At this moment, I cannot afford to outsource sales so that is not an option. In an ideal world I'd like to find someone who is driven, passionate and sales orientated and bring them onboard in return for a healthy chunk of equity. . . . .but where would I find such an individual?

Any ideas?

Many thanks

T
 
Hi there

How about all the positive people from the trial, have you tried contacting them. That wouldn't be such a "cold" sell for you. Or find an agent who will sell for you in return for a commision. I do think it would have to be a chunky commision to get the best possible people.

Alternatively find someone who can teach you how to cold call. At this point shyness is not going to put bread on the table.

Rgds

Jonathan
 
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telemax said:
Hi there

How about all the positive people from the trial, have you tried contacting them. That wouldn't be such a "cold" sell for you. Or find an agent who will sell for you in return for a commision. I do think it would have to be a chunky commision to get the best possible people.

Alternatively find someone who can teach you how to cold call. At this point shyness is not going to put bread on the table.

Rgds

Jonathan
Click to expand...

Yes, I am confident the members we previously had would be interested in buying the product.

And no I know it won't but bread on the table, but we all have our strengths and weaknesses and it's just not something I enjoy I'm afraid.
 
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first thing I would do is contact the 700 pre users and offer a free trial and then maybe a reduce ratethere after, plus get a good web site, which sells the product and then you don't have to.
 
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monthlylocal said:


So what are my options? At this moment, I cannot afford to outsource sales so that is not an option. In an ideal world I'd like to find someone who is driven, passionate and sales orientated and bring them onboard in return for a healthy chunk of equity. . . . .but where would I find such an individual?

Any ideas?

Many thanks

T
Click to expand...

Dragons Den if it is that good
 
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Get 10% of the 700 existing trial users to signup - offer them a special discount.

Then with around 70 paying members on board, advertise a % share in your business to a business development director to join you.

Good luck.
 
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I think a lot of people suffer from this and their business fails to get off the ground because of it.

There are some website a bit like dragons den where you can make a pitch on the net and if it is interesting you might get a dragon. Not a real dragon but a webby one :)

You will lose a lot of equity though but as the dragons say, 50% of nothing is nothing.

Good luck.

Simon
 
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monthlylocal said:
Certainly wouldn't go on national TV Elaine !
Click to expand...


far point but if you want an investment then you can expect to come under the same amount of scrutiny of you business plan as they do on the prog. OK so not in front of an audience maybe but you will need to have a solid business plan in place IMO.

Good luck
 
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I'd go back to all the previous 700, offer them a free 2 month trial...get them hooked...then email 60 days later asking if they wish to continue with the service at £x per month/year...whatever...

All can be done by email, all without any cold calling/selling as such...if it's as good as you think it is, I reckon more than 10% will sign up...at which point you've got the turnover to go out and get someone to promote it properly for you...

I also agree with previous...look for an agent...no loss of equity then either!
 
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Agree about the 700.

However, outside of those people, IMO there are a few questions that need to be answered before good advice can be given:

(1) Are your ideal prospects actively looking for software that does whatever your software does?

(2) If so, what do they find when they're looking? i.e. are they satisfied with what theye find? If not, why not?

(3) If they're not actively looking, why not?

(4) Re your answers to the above questions: are you sure these answers are correct?

Steve
 
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