alecabral

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Are customers buying because you are selling, or is the product/company name that does it?

Age old question I guess, but I'd love to hear some opinions. I mean, anyone who has been doing this for some knows a strong relationship with a buyer and others is a must, but that being said, if we drop our egos for a sec, how many times did your customers actually bought because they trusted you weren't bullshitting them (like unfortunately many sales people do), vs how many times they just felt you did a good job representing a company / product / name bigger than yours?

Just wondering!

👑 Sales Strategy

📈 Closing

19 comments

Sort by:

ragnarlothbrok

Politicker

Key account manager

strictly sales here as we are only a small outfit, it would be nice if it was because of the company though

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

True, when the brand is strong enough, that weight helps with the sale.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I have said no to the "best in class" tools quite a few times because the rep was so bad at their job. Their competitor, who didn't have ALL the features we wanted, worked their ass off to earn my business--gotta still deliver a solid sales cycle these days when there are so many competitors in every category.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Absolutely. I've bought stuff that was not top shelf just because the rep selling it was doing an awful job, even making me not want to buy from them at all!

BullDawg

Politicker

Totally depends on the company imo. When I worked for large well known brands, the product sold itself. I didn’t have a damn clue what I was doing, but because I made the most calls and spoke to the most people, I had the best numbers. Nothing to do with skills - just putting a good product in front of as many people as possible. In my current role working for a startup in a new niche without brand recognition? All salesmanship. Our product is great, but without someone like me helping you understand the value and working through a process, you’d never look at it or care about it.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

that's a great callout, I'm inclined to think the same but I've had experience in large corporations where the sales rep was one of the top reasons a large deal was closed. Of course to your point, the customer was buying the product as it was great and well known, but without the relationships this guy (not me) pulled off, not sure the deal would have been done or that massive!

never sold for a startup before. what's the biggest challenge you've met there?

BullDawg

Politicker

That’s a good point - I was working mid market transactional deals when I was working for the larger brand. I’m sure it makes a much bigger difference when you’re focusing on larger accounts. Biggest challenge is sifting through all the noise to be honest. Basically - everyone you talk to thinks it sounds cool, but justifying a six figure or seven figure purchase to a BoD or CFO when you’re a small startup they’ve never heard of is tough. Finding out who really gets it and understands the business value (and will let you help them see the light) and can look past the younger age of the company vs. who thinks it’s cool but will waste months of your life without an order is a real challenge.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Thanks for that input, I've never done that kind of deal for a startup, and to be honest I never sold 7 figures on my own. I do remember the really tough and long work other AEs did to get there, and I can relate to that a bit!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I work for a best in class company, I also never rely on that fact.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

Always lead with relationship. That's what I did back in the day when working for big companies.

KendallRoy

Politicker

Current company is best in class. Last company was virtually unknown. At both I was a top performer, SDR before, AE now. The right technique can translate anywhere. If it was just company name, everyone would get similar results.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

That last sentence is somewhat true, but I doubt every company can get the same level of reputation based on product alone, especially these days with customers asking for more and better service! I do agree that the right technique should be easy to transport to a new business!

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

Current company is best in class. Last company was virtually unknown

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

Totally depends on the company imo. When I worked for large well known brands, the product sold itself.

FlintIronstag

Notorious Answer

Chief Marketing Officer

Buying because we are selling. We have no brand ID and they can get our product anywhere. We do it better, cheaper and faster than anyone else on the market. It's not even close.

Problem is we aren't old hats in our scene and so our targets will go with less efficient solutions because of competitors equity in the space.

alecabral

Arsonist

Director - Digital Sales Transformation

great answer!

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

ISR

strictly sales here as we are only a small outfit, it would be nice if it was because of the company though

Mr.Floaty

Politicker

BDR

When I did manage SDRs I made sure marketing knew we were sales first and that sales knew we were there to make them more successful and to let us do just that.

Cyberjarre

Politicker

BDR

The fact of the matter is most SDR's want to be AE's and will end up with a distrust in marketing at some point or another (kidding, sort of)

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

alecabral

Are customers buying because you are selling, or is the product/company name that does it?

19 comments

Related posts

Are any of us selling a truly proprietary product?

Help Selling A Brand New Industry Solution

Selling my product to a company I want to work for