Questions regarding selling products to both new and existing customers of the business.
2
votes
3answers
2k views
First time meeting a CEO
We are in the process of getting a new project. It is our first project building a corporate website for a chip company.
This is the first time we are going to meet a CEO. We are a small group of ...
5
votes
1answer
97 views
What are the pros and cons of repackaging our saas product as an OEM product?
We've started beta testing our WordonWiki software. WordonWiki is a Wiki with all the features you'd expect from a wiki, but it lets you create and edit pages with MS Word.
We're getting good ...
5
votes
5answers
291 views
How to select a VP of Sales and Marketing partner
I've been working solo on my startup for longer than I'd care to admit. I'm a coder w/ a fleshed out website/webservice that's finally realized that I might actually need sales people.
I'm thinking ...
3
votes
2answers
403 views
SaaS for Handling Sales, Demo Requests, Leads, Follow up emails
I know similar questions have already asked but I think we need something slightly different:
Capturing user info from our website to the CRM directly via an API
Sending welcome, followup emails to ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
How to follow up a trial?
What's the best practices to send a follow up email after the user's trial version expires?
What questions to ask?
Is a short survey good idea or an email which asks a generic feedback better?
Is it ...
4
votes
4answers
135 views
How much data should I ask for in my lead contact form?
We have a contact form on each page of our marketing site. We ask for a name, phone and email. We made it simple b/c our goal was to get as many people/companies to submit their information.
...
3
votes
3answers
546 views
CRM Packages - Market Research
Not totally sure if using this forum for this purpose is frowned upon but I thought I would try it as a way to start a debate focussed less on simply reviewing current market offerings and more on ...
1
vote
2answers
3k views
Sales tax for artists?
Are artists who create "fine art" (not commercial art) required to collect sales tax if selling directly to customer through website, ebay, local art shows, booth at art show?
0
votes
1answer
103 views
When is the right time to release the product?
Most people have said that releasing the product as early possible is more important than getting it right. But how early should you release it? Sometimes user won't come back and won't consider to ...
5
votes
5answers
160 views
How do I nurture my customer leads?
If I am capturing leads from my marketing activity, how do I nurture them, keep them live, and move them towards close?
2
votes
4answers
316 views
Why are big software companies going freemium?
There's a lot of criticism of freemium in the startup community, but in 2009, some of my favourite large software companies moved towards, rather than away from it.
Atlassian started their $10 ...
3
votes
3answers
471 views
Mechanics of Getting a Customer Reference during enterprise sales
We are getting close to signing our first enterprise client. Among other things, we want them to help us sell to other companies in their industry, which they indicated they have access to. In past ...
6
votes
4answers
517 views
Getting feedback from lost sales
Short of begging, what is an effective way(s) to get feedback from a lost sale? I'm thinking survey, but is there a more practical way?
0
votes
1answer
151 views
What was your startup experience like?
I asked this on the Business of Software forum previously and thought I would repost here.
Basically, did your business/startup end up being an easier or harder project than you expected before ...
5
votes
7answers
669 views
Price quote for enterprise customer
We got a quote request from a reseller for one of their customers for about a 100 licenses of our software with 4 years of support.
What is the a good way of structuring this quote without showing ...
3
votes
6answers
344 views
What are some effective ways to promote a book?
I am curious if anyone has any experience promoting a book. I have read a bunch of posts about various promotion methods but I have not seen a whole lot of posts on what is the most effective. By ...
2
votes
2answers
158 views
Terms And Conditions for Website Advertising
I am curious if anyone has any experience with selling website Ad space directly to customers. If so, what are some of the Terms and Conditions that you have used?
4
votes
7answers
328 views
Getting a product in front of people who don't necessarily know they have a problem
AKA selling a solution in search of a problem!
Our product is a web-based tool which helps people take and manage meeting minutes. The problem we face is that while most people don't like the way ...
2
votes
2answers
535 views
What is the revenue channels for social networking site?
It seems really obvious that sites like Facebook generate revenue from Ads. Twitter doesn't seems to have any revenue model at the time being (CMIIW). So other than advertising what is the revenue ...
0
votes
3answers
260 views
Market Research having time but no money
I'm thinking in making my own "market research study" (if that applies) by no spending money but time. My resource: the web.
The idea is make the most complete possible list about my possible ...
7
votes
5answers
301 views
How transparent should a Micro-ISV be?
I'm a one-man software shop. I do all the software development, design, marketing, etc for my business. And I'm a big believer in being very open with my customers. I maintain a blog at ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
Tips for Talking to NEW potential customers (cold-calls, cold-emails, etc)?
Question is in bold below, but some background first..
I've been "mulling over" a startup idea for a website geared towards medium-to-large law firms. Without going into too many details, my website ...
4
votes
11answers
396 views
Why are international sales so poor compared to US domestic?
We sell software online. Our international trial to purchase ratio is abysmal compared to US domestic. I'm trying to determine why? Some possible answers:
Higher piracy overseas
PayPal and PO are ...
5
votes
6answers
296 views
B-to-B landing pages and conversions
Within the online marketing space, a standard rule I have heard about landing pages is to limit choice. Ideally you have one page, with your sales pitch and they can either take your desired action ...
1
vote
1answer
95 views
Start a franchise or extend sales?
A local company I know regularly goes abroad to sell their products trough an extensive network of distributors except in some regions where they have little presence for doing business.
I've spotted ...
3
votes
2answers
221 views
Screen captures vs short videos which is more effective at converting customers?
Has anyone measured the effectiveness of static screen captures with text versus a screen cast with voice in converting customers (for a software application)? Do you find that it is a natural ...
2
votes
4answers
355 views
Sales for my startup job portal
I just launched my Job portal last week and now i am really wanted to know which is best way to generate sales for a startup company like us.
is it really hard to convince the recruiters to post thier ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Online Sales Tax: location based on transaction server, shipping address, CC, or location of purchaser?
Online sales tax seems overly complicated. From what I've read, it seems like most states collect sales tax if your company has a physical presence; however, location on both ends is badly defined:
...
8
votes
12answers
597 views
How did you learn to sell?
I realize that selling is vital to mine (or any startup). But right now with little experience and tech background, let's just say I'm not proficient in sales.
So what books, blogs, advice, etc. have ...
2
votes
1answer
292 views
Where can I learn about selling ads on my website without getting bombarded with advertising?
I intend to sell small banner ads as well as job ads on my site. The job ads I'm less worried about because I can look at similar publications, get their rate cards and price myself according to my ...
3
votes
1answer
194 views
Are there any websites for startups that are looking for marketing and sales consultants?
I was wondering if startups don't have the marketing and sales expertise in-house (between the partners) and don't want to hire full-time talent, are there any websites that you can look for them?
6
votes
2answers
225 views
Selling to small and medium businesses
I believe inbound marketing makes small businesses sales easier on both parties, but honestly I've haven't used direct sales much.
So should we focus on inbound marketing? Or have salespeople contact ...
1
vote
3answers
415 views
Expected Commission % in Web Partnerships
I have a web startup that we are getting ready to take live. I have researched a few companies that I am interested in partnering with to provide our site with custom services and products. I cannot ...
5
votes
2answers
701 views
Marketing to enterprise customers
I would like to start a discussion about the difference between market a consumer product and an enterprise product.
I have read much of the ISV materials, BTW, thanks to all the legends such as Eric ...
2
votes
4answers
208 views
How do you find and choose the best cofounder who can manage sales?
Let's say that you have a great idea, great market niche and you can build a prototype and you need a cofounder who has experience in selling and who is connected. How do you find and choose the ...
