Get out into the world, away from the desk and start selling your idea, after so many considerations and theoretical discussions
In the museum, after visiting an impressive factory or the wonderful aquarium in Toronto, we are guided by the kindly worded sign “Exit through the shop” through a place repleted with hundreds of completely useless things, presented in a fascinating way for purchase. Many people, especially children stop, take something in large format that then a family member may carry all day through the city.
Why is it so difficult, especially in Europe and especially with many new ideas, for startup founders to sell their idea? To build up your “exit through the shop” note emotionally for your customers in such a way that really no one leaves the website without buying something?
On the one hand, one of the most common reasons startups fail is because there is no market need. And on the other side, is the most common answer when I ask a founder , so how are you going to do that with sales now?
“I’m not a salesperson, we’ll get someone on the team for that.”
Whether it comes from upbringing or the imprint of the social environment, Europeans and especially Germans shy away from the natural process of offering a product in an appropriately cool way, or being quickly sold something themselves.
“He just wants to sell us something.” was the very clear statement shouted into the audience by a member of the audience at a lecture I gave at an association.
Europeans love the idea of marketing, posting on social networks and loudly arguing about who has the better offer at cheap prices. But then when it comes to selling your startup idea directly, unfortunately, many very good startups shy away from good selling directly to customers they have never seen them before.
So, what do we do now?
We all have to learn to get out of the comfort zone even more. Get out into the world, away from the desk and start selling your idea, after so many considerations and theoretical discussions.
Practice, practice, practice
Jump into the very cold water, structure your sales strategy and try to get as many paying customers as possible for your startup idea next week.
Prepare your sales strategy, define your USP in one sentence, define your target audience, compare your idea with your competitors’ ideas. Define your on and offline sales channels, where you want to sell your idea. Find the customers you want to address.
Call, make appointments, go there.
Listen, don’t talk.
Ask questions.
Pitch.
Formulate an offer.
Objection handling.
Closing security.
Let them exit through your shop.
Making deals.
Winning customers.
Going for coffee and enjoying the day.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Send me an Email to jk@jens-koester.com