Re:Ask HN: How to learn how to sell?
by muzani on Monday June 28, 2021 @07:52PM
(#27669853)
My own personal stats is that half my successes came from following up.
You do have to be really careful and get intent right. I don't want to sell something to someone uninterested (they're usually the bad clients that need 80% effort, 20% returns anyway).
A lot of sales people are just manipulative with this and it'll show. It comes across as impatient, pushy, or insulting.
If I know that the other person read it and is interested but evaluating other options, an email could be along the lines of, "So what do you think? I'm happy to answer any questions you have."
If it goes into a void, I'd say, "Sorry to follow up, but I'm not sure if my last email was lost in your inbox or if you've got other things on your mind. To reiterate, (brief pitch on product). I'll probably send one more follow up later for your convenience. If you're not interested, just let me know and I won't bother you."
Many people are afraid of rejection, but IMO it's a very good thing. Encourage them to say no. You know what doesn't work - wrong target market, wrong pitch, or some cases it's just not good enough. We've had situations where we were told, "It's interesting but not being able to log out of all devices is a security hole and dealbreaker." It could be a polite excuse, but it was a feature angle we didn't think of and also a hint when it's okay to try again.
You do have to be really careful and get intent right. I don't want to sell something to someone uninterested (they're usually the bad clients that need 80% effort, 20% returns anyway).
A lot of sales people are just manipulative with this and it'll show. It comes across as impatient, pushy, or insulting.
If I know that the other person read it and is interested but evaluating other options, an email could be along the lines of, "So what do you think? I'm happy to answer any questions you have."
If it goes into a void, I'd say, "Sorry to follow up, but I'm not sure if my last email was lost in your inbox or if you've got other things on your mind. To reiterate, (brief pitch on product). I'll probably send one more follow up later for your convenience. If you're not interested, just let me know and I won't bother you."
Many people are afraid of rejection, but IMO it's a very good thing. Encourage them to say no. You know what doesn't work - wrong target market, wrong pitch, or some cases it's just not good enough. We've had situations where we were told, "It's interesting but not being able to log out of all devices is a security hole and dealbreaker." It could be a polite excuse, but it was a feature angle we didn't think of and also a hint when it's okay to try again.