Sales Questions

Discuss startup sales strategies and what it takes to sell the product that you’ve designed and developed.

3 Votes
2 Answers
2.75K Views
SaaS for Handling Sales, Demo Requests, Leads, Follow up emails

I know similar questions have already asked but I think we need something slightly different: Capturing user info from our website to the CRM directly via an API Sending welcome, followup emails...

asked Feb 11 '10 at 02:59
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The Dictator
2,305 points

5 Votes
1 Answers
2.15K Views
What are the pros and cons of repackaging our saas product as an OEM product?

We've started beta testing our WordonWiki software. WordonWiki is a Wiki with all the features you'd expect from a wiki, but it lets you create and edit pages with MS Word. We're getting good...

asked Feb 19 '10 at 06:34
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Wordon Wiki
76 points

5 Votes
5 Answers
2.07K Views
What is your upgrade policy for a new release?

For a desktop business application, what should the upgrade policy be? Should upgrades be free? 50% discount? What if they just bought the old version last month?

asked Feb 2 '10 at 11:10
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Steve Hanov
596 points

6 Votes
4 Answers
3.04K Views
Getting feedback from lost sales

Short of begging, what is an effective way(s) to get feedback from a lost sale? I'm thinking survey, but is there a more practical way?

asked Jan 8 '10 at 17:22
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Sparagi
346 points

4 Votes
3 Answers
2.77K Views
Mechanics of Getting a Customer Reference during enterprise sales

We are getting close to signing our first enterprise client. Among other things, we want them to help us sell to other companies in their industry, which they indicated they have access to. In past...

asked Jan 11 '10 at 07:49
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Jean Barmash
195 points

5 Votes
5 Answers
2.45K Views
How do I nurture my customer leads?

If I am capturing leads from my marketing activity, how do I nurture them, keep them live, and move them towards close?

asked Jan 12 '10 at 06:02
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Benjamin Wootton
1,667 points

3 Votes
4 Answers
2.78K Views
Why are big software companies going freemium?

There's a lot of criticism of freemium in the startup community, but in 2009, some of my favourite large software companies moved towards, rather than away from it. Atlassian started their $10...

asked Jan 12 '10 at 07:41
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Benjamin Wootton
1,667 points

4 Votes
4 Answers
3.19K Views
Pitching a major potential client on Wednesday. Any ideas to knock their socks off?

I'm pitching a major potential client on Wednesday. I mean, HUGE. Background (thanks, James!): We are Textaurant, a SaaS web app tool that provides waiting list management for busy restaurants....

asked Jan 12 '10 at 12:36
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Josh Sam Bob
1,578 points

0 Votes
1 Answers
3.02K Views
When is the right time to release the product?

Most people have said that releasing the product as early possible is more important than getting it right. But how early should you release it? Sometimes user won't come back and won't consider to...

asked Jan 16 '10 at 14:48
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Jpartogi
1,342 points

1 Votes
2 Answers
4.98K Views
Sales tax for artists?

Are artists who create "fine art" (not commercial art) required to collect sales tax if selling directly to customer through website, ebay, local art shows, booth at art show?

asked Jan 18 '10 at 04:08
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User2278
8 points

3 Votes
3 Answers
3.67K Views
CRM Packages - Market Research

Not totally sure if using this forum for this purpose is frowned upon but I thought I would try it as a way to start a debate focussed less on simply reviewing current market offerings and more on...

asked Jan 18 '10 at 23:29
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Dr. Phil
86 points

3 Votes
3 Answers
4.34K Views
How to set up sales office in the US?

If, for example, I have a company headquartered outside the US and going to work with US companies. What is the best way? Set up sales office in the US or hire independent sales person? What kind...

asked Jan 19 '10 at 11:05
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Oyushche
36 points

3 Votes
8 Answers
2.99K Views
Giving away free licences to universities, charities and open source projects

How do you feel about giving away free licenses (original price: $2000 ) to universities, charities and open source projects of your software to spread the word? Is it a good idea? Shall we...

asked Dec 20 '09 at 00:13
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The Dictator
2,305 points

8 Votes
5 Answers
2.77K Views
How best to deal with a rising Canadian dollar value for a software company?

My software company is in Canada. We sell our software for download from our web-site. Most of our sales are made in the US, though we do about %25 of our business in Canada and Europe. We sell our...

asked Dec 24 '09 at 04:18
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Joshua Knauer
43 points

13 Votes
6 Answers
3.29K Views
Should we hire a sales or invest more time in our online presence?

We are a small software company with a process automation product. To do more sales, we would like to compare following options for next year: Hire a sales guy. Someone capable of doing cold...

asked Dec 25 '09 at 18:28
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Frans
66 points

5 Votes
7 Answers
3.97K Views
Price quote for enterprise customer

We got a quote request from a reseller for one of their customers for about a 100 licenses of our software with 4 years of support. What is the a good way of structuring this quote without...

asked Jan 3 '10 at 19:26
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Poopsky
195 points

5 Votes
2 Answers
2.54K Views
are payments processors mutually exclusive?

I'm bootstrapping a software business for the first time. I worked in 'stealth mode' for one full-year and now I've got about 100 private-beta-testers loving the software (and already begging for...

asked Jan 5 '10 at 10:18
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Tristan St.
180 points

0 Votes
1 Answers
2.02K Views
What was your startup experience like?

I asked this on the Business of Software forum previously and thought I would repost here. Basically, did your business/startup end up being an easier or harder project than you expected before...

asked Jan 6 '10 at 12:02
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Benjamin Wootton
1,667 points

4 Votes
2 Answers
2.66K Views
How do I create a successful Email campaign?

I'm trying to figure out the best way of sending out an email campaign to alert potential customers about my desktop software application for fostering agencies and organizations. I have looked at...

asked Jan 6 '10 at 13:44
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Smart Company Software
1,190 points

4 Votes
6 Answers
2.64K Views
Getting a product in front of people who don't necessarily know they have a problem

AKA selling a solution in search of a problem! Our product is a web-based tool which helps people take and manage meeting minutes. The problem we face is that while most people don't like the way...

asked Dec 9 '09 at 11:03
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Rlivsey
206 points