[HN Gopher] Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software ...
___________________________________________________________________
Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?
I'm a software engineer trying to build an agency, would love to
hear anything(literally) about how can an engineer learn to
generate leads and convert them. Thanks!
Author : nikasakana
Score : 61 points
Date : 2024-09-30 05:28 UTC (17 hours ago)
| quintes wrote:
| Do you know what you're gonna build, or is the agency just
| building to client spec?
|
| Who's the client?
|
| How will you find them? Where are they? How will you communicate
| with them? How will you get them to use your agency?
|
| That's the trick
|
| Edit: spelling
| nikasakana wrote:
| These are very important, but at the same time easy to
| overlook, questions to have answers for. Thanks for reminding!
| Making sure i got every one of them down.
| quintes wrote:
| Glad to hear that. Good luck!
| markhneedham wrote:
| You might like Michael Drogalis' blog -
| https://substack.com/@michaeldrogalis
|
| He's a software engineer who's been building his business in the
| open for the last year and is sharing what he learns along the
| way.
| nikasakana wrote:
| This is so great! Thanks for the reply, going through it rn.
| brudgers wrote:
| Sales is a matter of talking to people you know. There is no
| shortcut. The work is: 1. Meet people. 2.
| Get to know them. 3. Make a pitch if they have a problem
| they will pay you for. 4. Get paid.
|
| That their problem inclines them to pay you is the only important
| feature of the problem and that you get paid is the only
| important feature of your service.
|
| Meeting people is literally meeting people.
|
| Getting to know them means time and effort spent fashioning a
| relationship. B2B relationships are long term. You can assume
| that people who regularly use agencies already have agencies they
| work with and will continue to work barring change to their
| business or the agency's business. These happen but not on a high
| pressure timeline. Consulting is a long con. Good luck.
| Terretta wrote:
| Believe it or not, for "selling software":
|
| _Selling Microsoft_ - https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Microsoft-
| Secrets-Successful-...
|
| The fundamentals of software sales haven't changed much since
| this. While B2C SaaS is different, the B2B platform world is
| still much as described in this book, and more importantly, the
| buyers are still the people who were buying when this book was
| published.
|
| While selling today should have changed, many of the enterprise
| procurement processes that were being set up as this was
| published are still the same. That makes this an excellent
| foundation for understanding how to change it up.
|
| That said, you said building an agency ... so do you mean selling
| software, or selling the ability to deliver solutions that a
| company can't get off the shelf?
|
| That's quite different.
| davisr wrote:
| Have you used much software yourself? If you know the difference
| between good and bad software (ahem, Electron-based apps are
| inherently _bad_ software), then you have everything within you
| to write good software.
|
| The principles of selling software successfully are thus:
|
| * Charge a low price. A low price gets many customers, and a high
| price gets fewer, but the money earned equals about the same.
| Better to have more customers, because that's more eyeballs and
| mouths seeing and talking about it.
|
| * Make the software available for as many platforms as possible,
| with GNU/Linux being a first-class citizen. Although most of your
| customers will use macOS and Windows, having GNU/Linux support
| signals robustness and longevity, earning trust.
|
| * Use a generous license. Best to AGPLv3+ -- competitors can't
| beat it. If others share your program gratis, it just leads to
| even more official customers. Any changes can be reincorporated
| into the official software, so the first-mover advantage is
| everything.
|
| * The software must be GOOD. It's got to save people time in
| their otherwise busy lives, and it has to be robust -- it has to
| work every time. The software has to know when things won't work,
| and fail gracefully. This is what sets hobby-ware apart from
| professional-ware.
|
| * Update the software regularly, and keep in contact with
| customers in a visible public place -- even if it's just a
| static, one-directional web page. Let people -- and search
| engines -- know the project is chugging along. Give customers
| something to look forwards to.
|
| * Fill a niche, and give the software a broad appeal. A tool with
| "something for everyone" -- features that not everyone uses, but
| everyone uses SOME features -- is important to have.
|
| * Write GREAT documentation, and typeset it with LaTeX. This is
| important to convey quality. Hobby-ware has a Readme.txt --
| professional-ware has a PDF manual that is so well-written, it
| could be printed out, put in a box with the software on a CD, and
| shipped.
|
| * Record the project into history. Be everywhere on relevant
| forums, and push the product when it's relevant. When someone has
| a problem that your software fixes, they will see those comments
| -- even years from now -- and that helpful, relevant advice is
| genuine marketing that stays posted forever. Bought ads don't
| come anywhere near that kind of value.
|
| And, as far as the actual software is concerned, write it in a
| popular language with a popular graphics toolkit. Python 3 + Qt5
| or 6 -- using PyInstaller to generate single-file executables --
| is dang near perfect. Stick to conventional user interface
| guidelines. Build software that you, yourself, use everyday.
| Don't work on software that you don't use personally.
|
| Familiarize yourself with macOS software of the 1990s (most
| software of this era was good, most software today is bad), and
| this article -- How To Design Software Good. https://www.haiku-
| os.org/docs/HIG/index.xml
| morgante wrote:
| This has to be a parody.
| davisr wrote:
| I literally sell software according to these principles, and
| several customers per week email just to tell me (and I
| quote) that it is "a breath of fresh air."
|
| Why would you think this is parody?
| avodonosov wrote:
| What software do you sell? Mind sharing a link?
| davisr wrote:
| It's called reMarkable Connection Utility (RCU). It's an
| all-in-one management client for reMarkable e-paper
| tablets that works locally/offline, and lets users escape
| the manufacturer's proprietary cloud/subscription. Works
| like an iTunes-for-reMarkable.
|
| https://www.davisr.me/projects/rcu/
| Terretta wrote:
| This is great, and looking forward to the Pro support!
| ajsharp wrote:
| The Challenger Sale https://www.amazon.com/Challenger-Sale-
| Control-Customer-Conv...
|
| Founding Sales https://www.foundingsales.com/
| richardw wrote:
| Small channel but Craig Hewitt is legit:
| https://www.youtube.com/@thecraighewitt
| tptacek wrote:
| Are you trying to sell a product or build a services business?
| Very different things! I have some books I like on software
| sales, but not for services businesses; most of the successful
| services businesses I'm familiar with didn't include a
| salesperson in their founding team.
| leetrout wrote:
| Previous thread "I'm an engineer that needs to sell my services.
| Any good books on sales?"
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39316653
|
| From that posting this comment seems useful:
|
| The Secrets of Consulting: A Guide to Giving and Getting Advice
| Successfully by Gerald Weinberg
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Consulting-Giving-Getting-Suc...
| kareemm wrote:
| Dan Hebert does exactly this in his coaching and community
| business: https://www.salesmvplab.com/
| petalmind wrote:
| Intercom on Sales:
| https://www.intercom.com/resources/books/b2b-sales
|
| +The Sales Handbook:
| https://www.intercom.com/resources/books/sales-handbook
| kjs3 wrote:
| I have many times recommended Harry Beckwith's books for this.
| armanboyaci wrote:
| https://www.amazon.com/Solution-Selling-Fieldbook-Practical-...
|
| If you are planning to build enterprise software solutions then I
| highly recommend this book. It contains very helpfull checklists
| and templates.
| igorzij wrote:
| Founding Sales
|
| Also while not exactly about sales, "Softwar" (a bio of Larry
| Ellison) has a ton of great insights on enterprise sales
| varunjain99 wrote:
| I think more than software sales it's useful to learn about
| "sales" and "persuasion".
|
| I've found Robert Cialdini's Influence to be a great read!
| mannyv wrote:
| Traction. It's about sales channels.
|
| Are you selling a solution? Solution selling talks about complex
| sales.
|
| I lost my old book, but this one looks good: mastering technical
| sales.
|
| The entire sales process is pretty interesting. There was a book
| on the buyer mindset that i can't find. But essentially there's
| the dream period and the fear period, and one of sales' jobs is
| to move the customer psychologically from the "everything will be
| great" past the "omg how is this going to work" to signing.
| callmeed wrote:
| Predictable Revenue is considered canon for B2B/enterprise sales
| https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practice...
|
| But not sure how applicable to agencies it is so YMMV.
| dools wrote:
| It might be a good idea to get some training or coaching. I
| learned Sandler but there are probably others. There is a book
| that's an intro to the system called You Can't Teach a Kid to
| Ride a Bike at a Seminar
| DrStartup wrote:
| Challenger sale
| globalise83 wrote:
| This is old but good. https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Not-Strategy-
| Winning-Complex/dp/...
| telaandrews2 wrote:
| Founding Sales is a great book for non sales people who need to
| learn sales for their own startup / business. Sounds like this is
| what you're after. Free to read, too.
| https://www.foundingsales.com/
| bigbossman wrote:
| Get Founding Sales by Pete Kazanjy
| (https://www.foundingsales.com/). It's written by a tech founder
| for founders, and he also runs some popular events and forums for
| the startup community.
| Atmael wrote:
| you either know how to sell or you don't
|
| in my experience someone who programs usually can't sell
|
| hire a marketing expert from your industry
| jll29 wrote:
| The best book on selling complex items like software that I have
| ever known, I got from the best salesperson I ever met: the book
| is Neil Rackham: Spin Selling
| unoti wrote:
| Second vote for Spin Selling from me. Spin Selling is a must
| read for anyone doing long-term sales-- in particular, selling
| software that has a long sales cycle like a year from the time
| you get a prospect until you close the sale. But it has other
| key concepts for smaller software packages too that you'll find
| useful if you're doing something smaller.
| perpil wrote:
| The Mom Test teaches you how to ask the right questions to make
| sure potential customers actually have a need for and will pay
| for what you are building vs. lying to be polite. The Mom Test:
| How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea
| when everyone is lying to you https://a.co/d/8rxZlJ7
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-09-30 23:00 UTC)