Startup Hacker, it’s not the new Technology, it’s the Sales skills that you need to learn next
Aditya October 27th
Few days ago I posted a thought on Twitter –
Actually, the same thought also applies to Marketing and Business Development as well. Let me explain what I mean by that.
For me, as a programmer, I found every new programming language, platform or development tools difficult, until I learn it and then practice it. Once I make my hands dirty on it and learn enough skills to build something real, I get that confidence that I can do this stuff. I may not become master in it, but at least, I'm not scared anymore. I know if I spend more time on it, I can be a master as well.
So once you learn something, then there is some certainty that you can produce some expected result. Of course, you will see some hurdles while you are building it, but eventually you'll get there. Your technology development is rarely dependent on any customer, market situation or financial crisis.
On the contrary side, Sales, Marketing and Business Development are the kinds of skills, which are not certain to produce the same results every-time you apply those skills. I think even though you are a salesman by birth, or you've mastered those skills in your MBA program, it's very hard to predict that you'll close the potential deal the same way you closed the previous deal. But of course, the more you practice those skills, the probability of you closing that deal is more compared to someone less-practiced person closing that deal.
For Sales, your skills are important, but you are also primarily dependent on your customer's buying mindset. And that's a huge variable factor. Same is the case with Marketing and Business Development. They are heavily dependent upon market conditions and financial crisis. And these kind of dependencies make these jobs even more challenging. Of course, technology is a challenging field, but in my opinion, Sales and Marketing fields are more challenging because of their dependencies on other factors.
And those are the skills that we as an programmer, who also wants to become an entrepreneur, should learn and master to improve our chances. Recently, Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror also mentioned –
Not how to type, not how to write, not how to design a programming language, but marketing.
This is painful for developers to hear, because we love code. But all that brilliant code is totally irrelevant until:
1. people understand what you're doing
2. people become interested in what you're doing
3. people get excited about what you're doing
So in a nutshell, for a programmer, it's not enough to master only programming skills. If he also wants to go entrepreneurial route, he also needs to master how to sell himself, his code, and his idea. And these skills can not be learned by sitting in front of the computer or in the cube. We need to go out, talk to more people, try selling our idea, get them excited about what we're doing, and more. It's a work that needs to be done in the battlefield, not in the boardroom.
That's exactly what now I'm going to start doing it. I've spent enough time in the boardroom to code and build my idea. Now it's the time to go out and sell my idea and vision to more people to improve my salesman skills, and also to get more inputs from the real people. And I'm sure it will be very challenging task and I'll learn hell lot of things.
I hope you also believe in this point, and will start selling your ideas, your code to more people. Wish you very all the best!
You know, I regularly glance at your blog and this one caught my eye. You’re right, selling is an important skill in these times. I’m someone who enjoys identifying and delivering value to a customer or prospect; it can be quite exhilarating. I would say that one skill that sales people, engineers and … well, all of us needs is the ability to understand the dynamics of a market and the customers in it before we enter. Who are the customers? What are the pains? What is the cost if those pains aren’t met? **WHY?** Well, the goal is not the sale–the goal is a profitable customer who stays, says great things and recruits others. And, most loyal customers are found and don’t just happen. I completely agree with your point that the target is moving, I think it needs to start before one even starts a new venture–what if we spent more time understanding the market dynamics and the customer before we even started talking about engineering or selling?
Promise
27 Oct 08 at 6:19 pm
@Promise, I absolutely agree with your point that the best case is when we start selling before we even have our venture. That’s how Bill Gates sold their OS to IBM
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Aditya Kothadiya
27 Oct 08 at 10:21 pm
I totally agree with your blog post. Sales is like KungFu, there are some fundamentals you have to learn. However, in the real world, you have to flexible enough to alternate your pitch to different audiences.
As a young startup, we are still learning and we realize that there’s actually alot to learn especially for Enterprise sales. Lots of unhidden laws and things to look out for.
julian_Zopim.com
28 Oct 08 at 4:46 am
Very good post.
What would you recommand for a CS student to learn those Sales skills ? ( I dont study in an American university, I can’t pick my classes, therefore I cant take Sales classes ).
Any books / method / advice ? Thanks
ALx
28 Oct 08 at 6:15 am
@julian Absolutely right. Enterprise sales is comparatively tough one. Especially if we are “young”, and trying to sell, then the outlook of those customers is quite different. We need extra effort to make them believe in us and bring them at a common ground. There are some basic etiquettes that we also need to follow, as they are taken granted in Sales world, but can be new to us.
@ALx, I think the best way to learn Sales is when you have something to sell. It need not be your full blown Enterprise startup. I started with selling stuff from my Sisters’ clothing and art business. I’m also reading some sales and marketing blogs. My mentor also gave me some sales coaching. So this helped me to get to basic level. Now, I’ll learn it more once I practice it more into the battlefield.
Aditya Kothadiya
28 Oct 08 at 6:41 am
Good post Aditya! Good luck with your Sales job. I am sure you will do great!
Sushil
28 Oct 08 at 3:00 pm
Wow, learn how to use capital letters please! Nouns do not require them unless at the start of a sentence or a proper noun.
Tim
4 Nov 08 at 10:56 pm
IMHO, a contrast is being made between a CS engineer and a marketing salesperson… Both are different roles and even if a person is trying to fit in each of them at once, time will test how well the person is at each of them on independent instances. One should perhaps guard on being judgmental against the difficulty or ease of either role…
Vipul Snehadeep Chawathe
19 Jan 09 at 11:03 pm