As a technical founder, you have a deep understanding of your B2B SaaS product. But when it comes to selling it, fear can take over. Overcoming sales fear is essential to grow your business and achieve success. In this ultimate guide, we'll show you how to identify and overcome sales fear by developing sales skills and implementing simple but effective sales strategies.
Understanding Sales Fear
I’ve spoken to so many technical founders that are flat out afraid of sales. Heck, I’ve spoken to sales people who are afraid of sales. I get it, it’s daunting. But it doesn’t have to be, as long as you understand where it’s coming from.
Sales fear is a common fear among technical founders. It's the fear of rejection, failure, or not being knowledgeable enough about sales.
Causes of sales fear in technical founders include lack of experience, negative beliefs about sales, and fear of failure.
The effects of sales fear on business can be detrimental, leading to missed opportunities, stagnant growth, and the inability to generate revenue.
This is why you need to get rid of your fear of selling once and for all. Or at least learn how to deal with it.
Identifying Personal Sales Fear
First, you need to understand where your fear is coming from. It’s most likely all in your head. Sales is about the prospect, so if you’re scared of messing up, you’re making it about you. Something to think about.
Head trash, or self-imposed limiting beliefs, is a common sales fear among technical founders. Stuff like “I can’t do that,” or “that won’t work” without even trying it. Not helpful. Getting rid of head trash is the first step to identifying personal sales fear.
Techniques for identifying personal sales fear include reflecting on past experiences, seeking feedback from others, and watching your own sales calls to understand where you’re struggling, and where you’re not.
Identifying personal sales fear can help you develop strategies to overcome it and become a more effective seller.
At the end of the day, you already have revenue. So it means you’ve been able to sell, at least to some degree. So what’s holding you back? It can’t be that bad.
Developing Sales Skills
As a founder, you’re always going to be selling. Selling your future to investors. Selling your vision to key hires. Selling your product to prospects. So you need to get good at it. At least the basics.
Developing sales skills is crucial for technical founders to overcome sales fear and succeed in sales. Key sales skills to develop include asking questions, structuring conversations, setting appropriate next steps, and follow-ups.
Asking questions is crucial to probe for pain and diagnose the root cause of a prospect's problem.
Structuring conversations helps you guide the conversation to a successful outcome and sets clear expectations for both you and the prospect.
Setting appropriate next steps and following up ensure that you stay on track and close deals effectively.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. Creating a minimum viable sales process will help you test and learn from selling.
Overcoming Sales Fear
Like anything else, you’ll get more comfortable with sales the more you do it. Sometimes you don’t have enough opportunities. But it doesn’t mean you can’t practice. Talk to friends, colleagues, record yourself, review.
Techniques for overcoming sales fear include practicing sales skills, setting realistic expectations, reframing negative thoughts, having a sales process written down, and getting support from others.
Practicing sales skills helps you become more confident and effective in selling your product or service.
Setting realistic expectations helps you avoid the pressure of achieving unrealistic goals. Yeah, you need to get to $1-2M ARR, then 10, then 20-50. Sure. But start with trying to close 1 deal. Finding one prospect from outbound. Then go for 5. Then 10. Incremental.
Reframing negative thoughts turns negative self-talk into positive affirmations. Get rid of the head trash.
Having a sales process written down helps you stay organized and focused on your goals.
Getting support from others, such as a mentor or accountability partner, helps you stay motivated and overcome challenges.
Getting rid of your fear of selling will help you grow your business.
Implementing Sales Strategies
Basic sales techniques will get you pretty far when you’re early on. You don’t have to over complicate it at this stage.
Implementing effective sales strategies is essential for technical founders to sell their product or service successfully. Key strategies include identifying the problem, focusing on solutions rather than features, using social proof, articulating the problem you solve, and following up.
Identifying the problem helps you understand the root cause of the prospect's pain points and provide a solution that meets their needs. Ask questions.
Focusing on solutions rather than features helps you demonstrate the value of your product or service to the prospect.
Using social proof, such as testimonials or case studies, helps you build trust and credibility with prospects.
Articulating the problem you solve clearly helps you stand out from competitors and win more deals.
Following up helps you stay in touch with prospects and close deals effectively.
Overcoming sales fear is crucial for technical founders to grow their business and achieve success. By understanding sales fear, identifying personal sales fear, developing sales skills, overcoming sales fear, and implementing effective sales strategies, you can become a confident and successful salesperson.
Remember, sales is not about being pushy or aggressive, but about solving problems and providing value to your customers. With persistence and dedication, you can overcome sales fear and achieve great success in your business.
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