Start-up Sales
"Nothing happens until a sale is made."
That quote is so true...If nothing is ever sold, there would be nothing for a business to do. (Well, they could write some blogs I guess). But I always wondered how those companies that are just starting make their 
VERY FIRST sale. I know a lot of salesmen recommend using testimonials and references on sales calls, but what if you don’t have any yet?
Sure, sometimes family or friends will buy (hey, that’s how we suckered in our first client). Or it could be a small sale for something that’s obviously practical.
But what about companies that make expensive, complex software? Or have expensive services that are intricate and detailed? How is their first customer going to believe that their stuff works?
This is something I have struggled with since I started. Sure, we have clients now, but many of them are new, and our services take time to see results. How can I communicate to new prospects that our stuff is awesome? And don’t tell me to just tell them our stuff is awesome – I tried it, and it didn’t work. (Other techniques that don’t work are begging, pleading, bribing and threatening – just a heads up!)
And I certainly can’t just cold call people, give them a price and hope for the best because unless I'm in the mood to fill my day listening to a wide variety of creatively combined profanity, that’s a sure-fire way to get rejected. Our prices are too high without me somehow communicating the VALUE of what we do.
And I guess that’s what it comes down to. Being able to make that first sale (or ANY sale) requires you to show your prospects the value that you deliver. The easiest way to do this (so I hear) is to ask lots and lots of strong questions. You have to make them think about things they’ve never thought of before. And it’s actually pretty satisfying to hear a prospect say, “Wow, that’s a great question.” (again, so I hear)
So why do you have to ask strong, powerful questions? What this does is it allows you to establish yourself as a trusted advisor. You are digging deeper than anyone else has. You are getting this person to think about his business in a whole new way. You’ve shown that you’ve thought about his business more than he has (in certain areas at least), and he starts to see you as a resource.
If you do a really good job of this, you don’t even NEED a testimonial or reference, he'll just assume that you've got 'em.
Anyone have an experience they'd like to share of when they made their first sale in a start-up? Tell me how you did it so I can copy you.