Non-sales people selling their product - what's the worse you've seen?

For context, a few months ago I met with this guy who owns a company that's created this very interesting solution that could potentially help BDRs and SDRs do a better job with engagement. Just to keep it safe I won't give much details on their solution, all you need to do is they're pretty much in startup mode yet but they're doing great. Already going through Round B and getting some major funding.


The guy, founder & CEO did a fantastic job of explaining the "why" their tool is great, but every single thing after that sucked. It is as if all he did was focus on building a killer value proposition and nothing else. He basically didn't ask any questions but this one: "so do you think we can sign the contract in the next couple of days?" and was met with silence from me and the rest of the people with me in that room, so his follow-up question was "we can even discuss a downpayment" .


Long story short, he didn't sell and instead, we looked somewhere else.


This is not the first start-up CEO I meet and what I've observed is that they usually are not great at selling and just lead with product. Maybe it was just my bad luck, but I was wondering if anyone's had better experience or any thoughts around this?

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9
funcoupons
WR Officer
3
๐Ÿ‘‘
Whenever I have to trust my champion to sell us to a non-accessible DM. I always have pretty low expectations regarding their ability to get it done but they almost always still disappoint me.
alecabral
Arsonist
0
Director - Digital Sales Transformation
I hear you. I've spent countless hours preparing champions, and some push through but most either chicken out or prefer to do it their own which is fine I guess, it doesn't really work out.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
๐ŸฆŠ
Hopefully this person asks you for feedback ๐Ÿ‘€
alecabral
Arsonist
0
Director - Digital Sales Transformation
He didn't, and I'm wondering if I should have offered it. The fact he didn't even ask why they lost / how to improve though kind of told me he doesn't care. I honestly don't know...
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
sendoso: i've kind of switched to this model. ill swag them a $5 gift card to starbucks or deliver something to everyone that's customized if they pay attention in the meeting or show up.
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
1
ISR
My experience with a CEO leading a sale (for SaaS) was he just went straight into product features.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
0
Rolling 20's all day
My experience with a CEO leading a sale (for SaaS) was he just went straight into product features. He touted himself as a sales genius but always focused on the product and not the customer.ย 
Just poor sales practices, though sometimes the product was enough to get a sale, the majority of the time he took up talking rather than letting the prospect talk.
alecabral
Arsonist
0
Director - Digital Sales Transformation
You just described almost my experience with this guy almost to the dot!
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
0
Rolling 20's all day
Lol and this was my old CEO too
MR.StretchISR
Politicker
0
ISR
Whenever I have to trust my champion to sell us to a non-accessible DM. I always have pretty low expectations regarding their ability to get it done but they almost always still disappoint me.
Mr.Floaty
Politicker
0
BDR
cater in food, like way too much, like, way way too much. so it lasts for days. Always gets a great response when the team you're trying to sell doesn't have to think about making lunch when they get home.
Cyberjarre
Politicker
0
BDR
cute! I guess you can send loom or vidyard vids instead of going door to door!
39
Members only

Do sales managers need to be better at selling than their sdrs/aes?

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Do sales managers need to be better at selling than their sdrs/aes?
49% Yes
51% No
198 people voted
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Have you ever sold a product to a client while representing one organization and then switched jobs and had to sell a different product to the same client again?

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How many people here selling an "all-in-one" platform here? In fact, do you even work for a saas company if it's not "all-in-one"? ๐Ÿง

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