Ask HN: How do you pitch your B2B product, when no one knows you?
5 comments
"When no one knows you"
I run a small B2B product. The biggest lesson I have learned that most clients do not care who you are as long as you can show them a good product that meets their requirement. Yes, there are a few who care about who you are but those have never turned out to be good clients in my specific experience.
So don't focus on the "who you are" part that much. You are who you are. You cannot suddenly become Steve Jobs. Think about it this way. You know Steve Jobs or Wozniak or zukerberg not because of who they are personally but because of the great products they built and shipped.
Focus on making a great product. Focus on talking to those B2B users and convicing them that the product they need is what you are selling. Also, focus on doing this at a very personalized level. Get on the phone, go see them in person. Yes this sounds not very scalable but this is what you need to do in the beginning.
I run a small B2B product. The biggest lesson I have learned that most clients do not care who you are as long as you can show them a good product that meets their requirement. Yes, there are a few who care about who you are but those have never turned out to be good clients in my specific experience.
So don't focus on the "who you are" part that much. You are who you are. You cannot suddenly become Steve Jobs. Think about it this way. You know Steve Jobs or Wozniak or zukerberg not because of who they are personally but because of the great products they built and shipped.
Focus on making a great product. Focus on talking to those B2B users and convicing them that the product they need is what you are selling. Also, focus on doing this at a very personalized level. Get on the phone, go see them in person. Yes this sounds not very scalable but this is what you need to do in the beginning.
I totally agree. I run a Saas from my home office and have some large customers (as in multinational corporations). They completely focused on features and service. There were questions about myself and my company but in the end it was the product that impressed[1] them.
[1] Their words.
[1] Their words.
Thanks for the comment, this is a helpful for me too.
Thanks for replying!
> Focus on talking to those B2B users and convicing them that the product they need is what you are selling.
This sounds very reasonable.
> Focus on talking to those B2B users and convicing them that the product they need is what you are selling.
This sounds very reasonable.
I am 25 years old and the youngest in my team at www.ideatory.co which is a completely sales driven company selling a B2B SaaS product. I am also the CEO and head of sales and our clients include some of the largest banks and tech consulting companies in the world.
Sale to a large Asian bank: Met an influential person at the bank who thought I am smart and sincere. He pitched to 5 departments at the bank on my behalf that got me meetings. I reinforced mine and my team's credibility at the meetings and committed to delivering. (revenue over $200k from this client)
Sale to a large US Bank (we're based in Singapore): Contacted via cold email stating our exact value and past client work. Ended up being the right guy who sold us to 5 departments internally. One worked out immediately. Took 6 months to complete legal procedures but the sale happened without ever meeting face to face. We said the right things which showed we understood their problems exactly, had solutions and credibility.
Conclusion: You need to present yourself in the most credible way possible, show that you and your team are resourceful and are committed to delivering no matter what. Then most importantly, you need to find a "hero" within the organization who sells you internally. Stick with this hero.
Sale to a large Asian bank: Met an influential person at the bank who thought I am smart and sincere. He pitched to 5 departments at the bank on my behalf that got me meetings. I reinforced mine and my team's credibility at the meetings and committed to delivering. (revenue over $200k from this client)
Sale to a large US Bank (we're based in Singapore): Contacted via cold email stating our exact value and past client work. Ended up being the right guy who sold us to 5 departments internally. One worked out immediately. Took 6 months to complete legal procedures but the sale happened without ever meeting face to face. We said the right things which showed we understood their problems exactly, had solutions and credibility.
Conclusion: You need to present yourself in the most credible way possible, show that you and your team are resourceful and are committed to delivering no matter what. Then most importantly, you need to find a "hero" within the organization who sells you internally. Stick with this hero.
Thank you very much for responding. And thanks for sharing these awesome cases.
If you are willing to share - how did you get your first 3 B2B customers?
If you are willing to share - how did you get your first 3 B2B customers?
The first one was the Asian bank I wrote about. I made an influential friend and that helped.
After doing some good work with them, I was able to ask for referrals to some other people. I showed them the case study of the work we did and that worked. Referrals are key in the beginning :)
After doing some good work with them, I was able to ask for referrals to some other people. I showed them the case study of the work we did and that worked. Referrals are key in the beginning :)
Awesome! Thank you!
I am in the B2B space. We have mostly large/F500 customers and all my suggestions below come directly from my experience from the field.
The B2B sales journey ain't for the faint of heart (6-9 month sales cycles are all too common) but it is a journey that has recognizable steps and milestones. You may not see the steps now, but they are distinct and you will learn to read them. Be patient and persist.
#1. No one may know you today, but you surely know someone who knows someone. In other words, hit your LinkedIn. Pitch to anyone who will listen and listen to objections, questions, comments and feedback. You have to cast the widest net at first.
#2. Talk to system integrators and IT consultants. They are easier to approach than, say, a CIO at a F500 company. Not only do consultants know the problems intimately, they can also recommend your product to a Director of IT.
#3. Attend industry trade shows, if you can afford it. It's a great way to meet customers and pitch your ideas over drinks or lunch.
#4. Ask former colleagues, friends (or even family) for referrals to corporate managers. When I started out, we pitched at every level (manager, director, even analyst - sometimes, you will be surprised at how much influence a humble analyst wields at a large company.)
#5. Obviously, a website, a LinkedIn and a Twitter account are standard tools of business.
#6. Learn to speak the language of TCO and ROI. If you are unfamiliar with those acronyms, you have some exciting reading for tonight!
#7. Who are your competitors' reference customers? Read up on them and their case studies. Now build a target list of your prospects. E.g.: Walmart bought a software from a competition. Therefore, you should have Target on your prospect list.
I could go on and on. But let me know if you need any specific advice. I'm happy to help.
The B2B sales journey ain't for the faint of heart (6-9 month sales cycles are all too common) but it is a journey that has recognizable steps and milestones. You may not see the steps now, but they are distinct and you will learn to read them. Be patient and persist.
#1. No one may know you today, but you surely know someone who knows someone. In other words, hit your LinkedIn. Pitch to anyone who will listen and listen to objections, questions, comments and feedback. You have to cast the widest net at first.
#2. Talk to system integrators and IT consultants. They are easier to approach than, say, a CIO at a F500 company. Not only do consultants know the problems intimately, they can also recommend your product to a Director of IT.
#3. Attend industry trade shows, if you can afford it. It's a great way to meet customers and pitch your ideas over drinks or lunch.
#4. Ask former colleagues, friends (or even family) for referrals to corporate managers. When I started out, we pitched at every level (manager, director, even analyst - sometimes, you will be surprised at how much influence a humble analyst wields at a large company.)
#5. Obviously, a website, a LinkedIn and a Twitter account are standard tools of business.
#6. Learn to speak the language of TCO and ROI. If you are unfamiliar with those acronyms, you have some exciting reading for tonight!
#7. Who are your competitors' reference customers? Read up on them and their case studies. Now build a target list of your prospects. E.g.: Walmart bought a software from a competition. Therefore, you should have Target on your prospect list.
I could go on and on. But let me know if you need any specific advice. I'm happy to help.
Thanks so much. For all of this!
You said 6-9 months is a standard time-frame for a corporate sale at F500 level. Shouldn't a new business therefore start with companies that are still smaller and faster at approving expenses?
I am mostly interested in learning how to do #2. I found this which seems to be much on that topic: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141015215831-48424446-the-b... Whatever else you can think of adding on this, it would be very beneficial to the topic (and me personally). How do I get a conversation going? Do you start by giving a general idea about your service? Or maybe you study very thoroughly the company and make an educated guess on the amount of money you will save/make them?
Maybe #7 is a common knowledge to many people, but I find it absolutely brilliant.
Thanks again!
You said 6-9 months is a standard time-frame for a corporate sale at F500 level. Shouldn't a new business therefore start with companies that are still smaller and faster at approving expenses?
I am mostly interested in learning how to do #2. I found this which seems to be much on that topic: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141015215831-48424446-the-b... Whatever else you can think of adding on this, it would be very beneficial to the topic (and me personally). How do I get a conversation going? Do you start by giving a general idea about your service? Or maybe you study very thoroughly the company and make an educated guess on the amount of money you will save/make them?
Maybe #7 is a common knowledge to many people, but I find it absolutely brilliant.
Thanks again!
> Shouldn't a new business therefore start with companies that are still smaller and faster at approving expenses?
Yes, that's a valid approach. But only you know what the right market for your product is, however (aka "Product-Market Fit".) Not everything can be sold to every company. Plus you will also realize that your product changes depending on the size of the company.
> How do I get a conversation going? Do you start by giving a general idea about your service?
That's a very broad topic. You may want to start following B2B sales and B2B Marketing blogs to get some best practices for these things. There is absolutely an art and science to these things and it can be learned.
Yes, that's a valid approach. But only you know what the right market for your product is, however (aka "Product-Market Fit".) Not everything can be sold to every company. Plus you will also realize that your product changes depending on the size of the company.
> How do I get a conversation going? Do you start by giving a general idea about your service?
That's a very broad topic. You may want to start following B2B sales and B2B Marketing blogs to get some best practices for these things. There is absolutely an art and science to these things and it can be learned.
Referal is the key to my B2B success, I have closed a top 5 insurance company, a top 3 grocery wholesale company and a 5k+ engineering company all by referals from friends and people I am doing business with.
I learned everything about referal from Steli Efti here http://blog.close.io/how-to-do-referral-sales
I learned everything about referal from Steli Efti here http://blog.close.io/how-to-do-referral-sales
I'm going to focus on the "no one knows you" bit since I don't know anything about the industry/vertical you're in.
Step 1 -- The first thing to do is to build some social proof. I hope you already have a few customers. Request them to be references for your product and feature them and their feedback on your front page
Step 2 -- Ask your customers about who else in their network they think could benefit from such a product and reach out to them.
Step 3 -- As you sign on more customers, repeat Step 1 + 2
Step 4 -- Figure out if there is a pattern in your customers and try to truly understand the market they exist in.
Step 5 -- Once you understand the market, try to figure out which channels through which you can best reach that market (e.g. google ads, billboards, tv ads, partners, etc.). Of course, word of mouth is the best bet, but there are often other really lucrative channels too.
Iterate. This is just the beginning!
Step 1 -- The first thing to do is to build some social proof. I hope you already have a few customers. Request them to be references for your product and feature them and their feedback on your front page
Step 2 -- Ask your customers about who else in their network they think could benefit from such a product and reach out to them.
Step 3 -- As you sign on more customers, repeat Step 1 + 2
Step 4 -- Figure out if there is a pattern in your customers and try to truly understand the market they exist in.
Step 5 -- Once you understand the market, try to figure out which channels through which you can best reach that market (e.g. google ads, billboards, tv ads, partners, etc.). Of course, word of mouth is the best bet, but there are often other really lucrative channels too.
Iterate. This is just the beginning!
Cheers!