Don't listen to me
Get some moula from your yencli (see footnote if you don't get it)
How to sign $1.000.000 worth of contracts in 24 hours?
1 I don’t know, and whoever says they know is a scam.
Welcome again to The Systematic Venture, a serialized book dedicated to bootstrapped - or not actually - entrepreneurs and their constant struggle.
Until now, we've been tackling fairly abstract topics, even though they are important to me. The first two chapters, on core principles and business fundamentals, serve more as a cathartic expression for me than as a blueprint for you. However weird they may be to read, I still believe in them to the core and bear those ideas on a daily basis. Actions express priorities, and the action of writing is my promise of skin-in-the-game. I would never, my dear reader, advise something I don’t try to do and breathe on a daily basis. But just talking about philosophical principles and business mantras does not make a living, nor a strategy: one needs to sell, and get some cash to survive2.
It’s actually time to get into the meat of it, and talk about sales and marketing. Most of my readers are either founders or investors in tech-related companies, and sell their services to businesses. I am a tech entrepreneur, selling B2B SaaS and services. I also own a restaurant3 and a nascent clothing brand, but their fairly reduced size and their side-kick nature make me unable to give any tips on consumer products. Bear in mind, when reading this part of the blog, that I’m not going to be of a great help if you want to build the new Facebook. It’s likely I'm not going to be a great help anyway, actually, as I’m still not a millionaire, so probably not the best at sales.
What’s the point of listening to that deadbeat then? Well, I’m not driving an Aston Martin but I do invoice and charge more every month than the previous ones, since a few years now. Also, I never raised a dime and built all my selling strategies starting with zero cash. That leads me to another crucial point here: this series of articles is about selling and marketing, not about hypergrowth and exponential metrics. We will talk about that difference later, but the main point is to ask the relevant questions and find different strategies on how to sell and actually make money doing it.
I am not cash-rich—far from it—but I can sell sufficiently to survive for years without any investor's money, and that’s valuable to me. This series of articles invites you to comment, disagree, and maybe even argue with me. It’s not a blueprint for being a selling machine; it’s the translation of my journey as a technical founder obligated to sell to survive, and his learning along the way. Hopefully, I’ll feel stupid reading it in a few months or years. If you feel I am stupid, then maybe you are further along in the selling process, and please send your comments: that sacred feedback loop must not stay sleepy forever, and we all want to hear your secrets, even pay for it4.
Relations, and incentives
Well, first of all, why am I calling this part "sales and marketing"? Because I do believe they must come together: the message you communicate through advertising and communications must be coherent with what you tell your clients in negotiation. Successful companies have a single message they repeat over and over again. The best examples come from the most successful consumer companies: a single identity, fitted to their emblem, and the dream to become that emblem. Nike sells shoes and shirts to winning athletes, and you embrace that winning when you buy their Air Jordan. Apple sells beautiful products for the best engineers, embedding the ultimate level of sophistication which is extreme simplicity. Slack is the agile communication drawing the line between boring team conferences with 50-year-old, one-shower-a-week IT support and agile start-up teams. WeWork is... no, that one's just a stupid fucking cash-burning venture.
You get the main point: marketing is stamping your one-liner and your differentiator into your clients' minds; selling is making this flirt a money transfer. Make something people want, and stamp into their minds that this is what they want, and need. Now how exactly do you transform your - hopefully obvious - beautiful differentiators to a cash transaction? Answers lies between those two terms : Relationships and incentives.
I'm not the one saying that: relationships and incentives run the world. I'm the one adding this: good relationships can't last with distorted incentives. If I’m madly in love with my friend's girlfriend, there might be some twisted reason why I want to spend so much time with them. If I try too hard to convince you of an apparently stupid opinion, then maybe… it’s called lobbying5, actually. Selling your dead researcher dreams to some unethical corps. Then telling the masses that eating corn syrup-based cornflakes every morning is the right way to breakfast6. My relationship with my nutritionist may be built on bad incentives again: if she's on Kellogg's payroll, then I’m likely doomed, and I should get ready for diabetes. Selling is no different; a good selling strategy should start by building good relationships with our clients, and unveil their real incentives: why would they buy your product, why do they honestly need it, what are their incentives to give you some cash in exchange for your presence in their lives?
Incentives run the world, find your buyer's one, unveil their intentions and related emotions, and embed it in your message first, your product then, your vision third, and along every single interaction you have before, during, and after you sell. Some people started calling it customer success and account management: probably some McKinsey consultant looking to justify his presence. That's called salesmanship, and customer service.
Honesty, and sustainability
This part of the blog is not meant to teach some manipulation tactics. Too many entrepreneurs and salespeople look for sneaky ways to conclude deals. You are my dear reader, and you already know how much I hate short-sighted suckers. Tricking your customers into some unfair deal and broken promises has nothing to do with good sales. Promising non-existent features and unsustainable prices has nothing to do with good marketing. The last decade of easy money has reduced good sales and marketing to hypergrowth, but it is not. The hard truth is that 99% of hypergrowth companies choose subsidized selling strategies and lose a bit more with each client. Remove one of the toughest parts of B2B selling—price—and you’re likely to get some great results7. What I want to share are strategies based on consistent, long-term good and constantly improving service, and obviously, honesty and sustainability. I don’t want to show up at your clients' doors, like those food-delivery sales representatives did at my restaurant, and announce that the new fee is 30%8.
Listen more than you talk, and when you do speak, use what you've heard. Systematize the major elements of your pipeline but allow creativity to flourish in the details. Create deals options for your customers and build commitment by demonstrating value first. Product-market fit isn't just a buzzword. While good marketing and distribution can surpass a good product, excellent distribution of a well-fitted product beats everything. Moreover, distributing a well-suited product through the right channels, to the right consumers, transforms something good into something truly great. Start small, leverage free resources9, and always look for opportunities for free marketing to enhance your reach.
Welcome to this new part of The Systematic Venture
Yencli : A drug-dealer’s client, in French slang.
Moula : The money, the real fuckin’ money
Cash from selling, not from silly VCs. I’m raising funds by the way ($0 commited to this day)
You’ll eventually have to pay for it, too.
If you a lobbyist and read this blog, I suggest you get the hell out of here.
Fast like ancient Orthodox and Muslims, eat Mediterranean food, and only buy products grandma could have bought. Live until 100yo with salient six packs.
More often than not, negociating is trying to stop talking about price, and rather about value.
Not a fake story, it really happened. That’s why I no longer hire sales from those VC-backed companies. I used to, but they just used to create unsustainable offers, then leave the company before the time-bomb explode. That ain’t salesmanship.
You gonna have to cold call and face rejection my friend.