Questions regarding selling products to both new and existing customers of the business.
1
vote
3answers
122 views
Reaching marketing executives?
I am part of the executive team heading up a grass roots startup. We have a service that we intend to provide to marketing departments of software technology businesses. We need leads, and new ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
What kind of sales commission plan is Groupon using?
Groupon has been hiring sales people like crazy. Their turnover is probably very high but the sheer number of salespeople that they are adding to their company every month is something crazy to a ...
1
vote
5answers
185 views
How should I charge web customers for small transaction amounts?
EDIT 1:
So in short, is there a free way for me to get $1 from a customer and send that $1 to my bank account. If free is not an option, what is the cheapest way for me to get that $1 to my bank ...
2
votes
2answers
178 views
Hourly billing application
What application do you guys use for hourly client billing/tracking?
Probably a "stupid" question, but very useful for those just starting.
1
vote
3answers
869 views
Looking for freelance sales person? How can I find them?
I'm looking for a sales person to help me in my new startup.
We are targeting the high end restaurant marketplace.
I understand the product and can pitch the idea. But I am having difficultly ...
0
votes
3answers
274 views
The line between being a persistent salesperson and being a pest
I have a startup called Snip that makes software for stylists and salons. At this point, I'm doing something similar to sales but not exactly. I'll explain: at this early stage, I have a product that ...
2
votes
3answers
339 views
What's the best book on pricing you've ever read? [closed]
What's the best book you've ever read on pricing?
0
votes
2answers
123 views
Is “Public Offer” synonym of ToS?
My company provides fee-based online services in addition to a free basic online service and product.
We have not bothered until now much with ToS before but with increase of fee-based clients ...
1
vote
3answers
189 views
Is it OK to ask prosperous client to invest in our startup company?
We are an early start up (7 months old), and we are in talks with 3 - 4 clients. We are building an E-learning kind of tool and looking for building the content as well.
I kind of sensed one client ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
What advantages does price discrimination have over the using the same price for everyone?
I'm trying to decide whether to change my pricing scheme from 'the same price for everyone' to 'a different price depending on which customer you are' (price discrimination / price differentiation). ...
8
votes
6answers
588 views
Do testimonials have any significant impact on sales?
Testimonials seem to be a great idea (social proof, etc), but I'm not sure they have any meaningful impact on sales. And they could actually be causing problems for our existing customers. For ...
0
votes
2answers
147 views
Do you feel anxious when you don't receive any inquiry from prospective clients for consecutive days?
What do you do when you don't receive any inquiries from potential clients for consecutive days?
7
votes
2answers
756 views
How do you ask a client to write a testimonial?
Any tips to collect testimonials? I have some clients. They seemed to be satisfied with my services, but they were reluctant to write a written testimonial. Please advise.
2
votes
3answers
165 views
Trouble in building content for E learning tool designed for medical school/college & motivating the content designers
We are a start up company, buiding a E learning content for our medical schools/college and we are in good situaltion with the E learning tool however we do not have the content for our tool. We had ...
2
votes
1answer
219 views
Prospect asks for client references, you don't have any what do you say to get the deal?
If you are doing a direct sale and don't have any client references to offer, and the prospect is interested in going forward but needs client references what do you do?
How can you still get the ...
3
votes
6answers
248 views
Clients taking a long time to pull the trigger
We are a startup building an e-learning tool for the medical education market, and we had a few meetings with colleges.
One potential client is taking a long time to decide whether to use our ...
3
votes
6answers
381 views
I'm a techie, not a marketing guy. How can I market my business?
My partner and I started a website development company a few years ago which specializes in making high quality (great graphics, functionality, and SEO) websites/applications for small-medium ...
7
votes
4answers
165 views
Can anyone share experiences in licensing content?
I have two companies that have interest in licensing my business's content (training materials). I want to offer exclusive and non-exclusive pricing options, maintenance fees (for annual updates), ...
2
votes
2answers
223 views
Yet another startup equity question
I recently ran into an acquaintance ("Bill") who is solely involved in a startup. The product is a software (SAAS) with b2b application for a specific industry.
Bill has a technical background and ...
0
votes
4answers
7k views
What's the difference between a retailer, dealer and trader?
What's the difference between a retailer, dealer and trader? Do they all mean the same thing?
Are they all buying goods from distributors and selling them to consumers, and therefore at the end of ...
0
votes
4answers
4k views
How to reply to a prospective client's first inquiry in email?
I'm an English-Chinese interpreter and receive prospective clients' email inquiry about my services from time to time. However, I found quite a few clients become unresponsive after I reply to their ...
0
votes
4answers
475 views
Looking for a web app for business expectations or goals
I started my own business about 7-8 months ago. Everything looks great and we are growing very nicely. I like web apps to keep my business organized (teamworkpm for project management, freshbooks for ...
2
votes
1answer
94 views
Reliable vendors for providing calling database - B2B
We are launching a campaign where we are targeting small and medium sized businesses in major cities. We intend to do outbound calls to get in touch with these business owners/decision makers.
It ...
5
votes
3answers
451 views
I have received an offer for my domain. what should I do?
I have received a great offer for the domain name techhotbed.com and techhotbed.net (all of which I own under a company name). A very powerful blog building company approaches me last week and made a ...
0
votes
2answers
165 views
Pre BETA inputs for SAAS product
We are building a SAAS based application for temp staffing firms and we are done with 70% of the application. We are looking for some early feedback and then go on to build the 30% of the ...
1
vote
1answer
315 views
Marketing documents helpful for a sales team
A little background.
We are a small company developing our own product in the market. And we are quickly approaching the release deadline. We have a few weeks to finish up some testing and work on ...
5
votes
3answers
393 views
Where/how do I find sales people, in the United States, to work for my start-up. Is there a website for this kind of situation
My start-up is finally coming together; however, I am in dire need of a solid sales team to go out into the market and attract customers. I want to pay them per store they sign-up. Can anyone refer me ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
Where to do research on small to mid-sized companies?
Where does one do research on small to mid-sized companies (e.g., prior to making a sales call for instance)?
Besides their own website, twitter feed, or other content generated by them, where else ...
2
votes
2answers
843 views
How to project sales in the development stage?
Happy New Year!
I am beginning to write a business plan for a future startup based on an innovative software technology I developed. An actual product is still in development.
I am using a dedicated ...
4
votes
2answers
113 views
Income estimation
I'm developing a product for creating software installers. Initially this was a hobby project; just prove to myself that I can acheive my technical goals writing this product. The product is available ...
2
votes
1answer
87 views
Verifying commodities in China before buying
I found some commodities in China, and I'm very interested in import them for reselling in my country. However I'd like to verify the commodity's status before make my first buy.
Do you know a way to ...
4
votes
6answers
158 views
What was the last book you read? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What books do you recommend?
Being an entrepreneur, we may need to learn from books. What was the last book you read? To me, it was "Founders at work".
2
votes
11answers
662 views
What's the best sales book you've ever read? [closed]
Any recommendation? Is sale a process to deliver comfort which is declared in the book "E-myth revisited"?
4
votes
6answers
205 views
How do you get developers/engineers to engage salespeople?
The other day, I asked Why do developers/techies avoid salespeople, and found some great insight. To sum up the answers on the question, it's a matter of introversion and arrogance.
So how does one ...
0
votes
1answer
28 views
How to create a tangible browsing experience?
With respect to selling anything from boots to paintings to pots and pans, what considerations should I be trying to address when creating listings?
Whether you are shopping Amazon or eBay, many ...
25
votes
22answers
4k views
Why do developers/techies avoid salespeople?
Over the past several months, we've been expanding our marketing efforts to include developers and other techies.
One thing we've noticed is that these front-line folks don't want to talk. At all. ...
3
votes
1answer
99 views
Giving away a free copy of software to entice people to leave their email
I've just been reading a book by Rob Walling titled "Start Small, Stay Small" and I came across an interesting idea (one of many he has in the book). I wondered what people on here thought.
My ...
0
votes
2answers
568 views
What goods are cheaper in US than in China Mainland so I can import them and resell in China Mainland? [closed]
What goods are cheaper in US than in China Mainland so I can import them and resell in China Mainland?
-1
votes
1answer
82 views
Writing a sales pitch to call partners? Can you help?
I have a listof partners I want to approach, I understand the benefits to their company revenue model etc.. now I need a great sales pitch to put out the calls and get them interested. Can anyone help ...
1
vote
2answers
239 views
What is the best way to approach a potential reseller?
I have a list of companies I want to approach, but I'm not sure what to say when I call them, or who I should be contacting within the company. Any ideas? I am in the software business.
1
vote
4answers
98 views
For tax purposes what is best currency to collect?
I have a canadian company selling to a European company who's currency is GBP.
For tax purposes should I sell to them in Canadian dollars or should they pay me in pounds?
7
votes
9answers
497 views
Developing and formalizing sales process
From day one and until recently our sales process was awesomely non-existent and very much adhoc. As we sell creative and web software development services, and lack of good process bit us in the ass ...
1
vote
2answers
530 views
Pros and cons of FatFreeCRM?
What are the pros and cons of using FatFreeCRM?
It appears to be a lightweight, open-source CRM package.
What important features in other CRM packages is it lacking?
How difficult is it to migrate ...
3
votes
2answers
473 views
Where can I find independant commission based sales contractors?
I have spoken with many agencies and posted many ads. No joy.
Is there any place where I can find telecommuting sales force for selling IT services?
1
vote
1answer
331 views
Hiring a Comission Only Sales Rep
I have a couple questions:
Should I use a 1099 structure as an independent contractor
If they are an Independent Contractor can I provide business cards and email ID's etc
What about making them ...
7
votes
4answers
214 views
How can a bootstrapped startup start to expand sales without outside funding?
So I have a bootstraped startup that's starting to get some traction. A little background: we make a classroom recording appliance that works with fixed positioned cameras in classrooms to record and ...
3
votes
2answers
236 views
How to find statistics for a sales pitch?
We have developed a system that lets small businesses issue membership cards to their clients which can then be used as payment cards. The clients either preload the card with money or link it with a ...
1
vote
4answers
285 views
Where/How do I find resellers for my content writing services?
Amongst my many ventures I run a new, small and unregistered content writing company. I have developed a decent working model with 15 employees. I am inexperienced in "for-profit" field.
I am willing ...
1
vote
3answers
87 views
Should startups have a channel?
I am running sales/marketing for a small software company (6 employees) and we are selling direct, for the most part. We now have been contacted by a few companies who want to distribute our software. ...
2
votes
2answers
868 views
How to hire a salesman?
Usually salesmen have a base pay and then commission on each sale. I want to know how a company handles this? I mean for example a salesman's basic pay is $1000 and commission ratio is 10% for each ...
