goldenlazard profile picture
goldenlazard profile picture

goldenlazard

Senior SDR

Politicker
Executive
Catalyst
+8

Selling to FAANG

currently trying to "sell" (as in book meetings) into Apple and Amazon.

man it's hard. must've sent 60+ emails to apple addresses, not one response (yet high open rate click rate - firewall right?). not even an OOO response. my email context has got responses before and I always mix it up and a/b text over the 10 or more contacts I'm going for atm

anyone have experience with these sorts of companies? 

is it the same as any other prospect, or is it harder? 

would appreciate some help if you have any tricks that worked. for context we already have meta/facebook, Netflix, and Google (who were all ironically inbound I believe)

how hard is it to sell into faang?

Attached poll
*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.
🧠 Advice
👑 Sales Strategy
👨‍🌾 SDR
11

25 comments

Sort by:
sahil
Notable Contributor
12
Deepak Chopra of Sales
I wrote about this on LNKD last year, but I copied it below:

At Glassdoor, I closed Facebook Microsoft Amazon and Google in one month.

Here's my best tip on how to get a meeting with an enterprise customer:

Teach them something - Execs at large tech cos don't take meetings to evaluate products. They will meet with you if have information or knowledge they are interested in. I set the meeting with Facebook by running an analysis of Zuck's CEO reviews on GD (sentiment, trending, by location) and sending the report to the VP of HR. I broke down how employees at HQ had a much higher rating for Zuck than the remote workers. Also showed how product managers had a lower rating than engineers.

In the email, I asked to meet to discuss how Facebook employees were publicly representing their employment brand, and the impact that might be having on their recruiting efforts.

Not only did I get the meeting and the deal, but I also met with Sheryl Sandberg and Zuck himself as a result. That report I pulled got sent to Zuck and he insisted on meeting with me. I got a similar meeting with James Sinegal (former CEO of Costco) using the same play.

Lesson: Your standard "here's how we can help you save $$ and time" email is NOT going to work. You have to actually do the work. Create value. Be smart.
E_Money
Big Shot
0
💰
@sahil dropping knowledge! 
goldenlazard
Politicker
0
Senior SDR
Wow thanks @sahil
Will put that into play. I guess it’s a bit of an uphill battle though, our startup is a lot smaller than established players (like that fucking no one gets fired for choosing IBM saying)
Was the Zuck as robotic and alien like as he comes across?
justatopproducer
Politicker
0
VP OF SALES -US
Yep was just going to say add value to the person you’re contacting.
butwhy
Politicker
4
Solutions Engineer
It's pretty freaking hard - FAANG tends to build instead of buy. Apple is only one I have sold into successfully, the rest didn't want any third parties and just built their own solutions. 
SaaSam
Politicker
4
Account Executive
They're like the rich retired boomer dad. Yeah, I've got the money to hire someone for this, but I've also got the resources and ability to build/fix it myself. Plus, I'm bored.

butwhy
Politicker
1
Solutions Engineer
Yeah, I think the bored part comes from them watching Series B/C companies get fire sold over and over again. Gotta have that 10/20 year support vision. 
goldenlazard
Politicker
1
Senior SDR
How did you sell to them? I’ve pretty much given up on Amazon
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
My experience with Amazon is old - but they will buy tech they do not currently have in order to fill the gap until they have built their own. 

So - what do you have that they do not?  Is there a gap?   And expect your tech to be replicated at some point if they like what it does.
butwhy
Politicker
0
Solutions Engineer
Apple struggles with data issues, we found a large gap right before the urgency of a product release as they are stretching into software/streaming. 
SaaSam
Politicker
3
Account Executive
The bigger and more prestigious the company, the more folks trying to sell into them. Cold outreach is going to be harder because there's a lot more noise to overcome.

Gotta stand out.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
4
🦊
Totally can be done. 💯
goldenlazard
Politicker
1
Senior SDR
Send the prospect videos of me crying?
SaaSam
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Send a picture of your armpit. Pit pics are what do it for me
goldenlazard
Politicker
0
Senior SDR
Mate at this point I might just hang outside their office with Grindr on my phone lmao
braintank
Politicker
3
Enterprise Account Executive
What are you selling?
goldenlazard
Politicker
0
Senior SDR
HR software solution for a niche application
braintank
Politicker
1
Enterprise Account Executive
Are FAANG the only accounts who need your solution?
goldenlazard
Politicker
0
Senior SDR
No no lots of creative and tech companies from around 5M in revenue upwards.
Have even got a massive real estate firm on board so pretty industry agnostic.
We already have FNG but obviously as an SDR trying to get to AE and beyond, I wanna stand out amongst the others. Getting apple or Amazon obviously would be huge
butwhy
Politicker
0
Solutions Engineer
Just a heads up that usually when you sell to FAANG, they make a part of the contract that you cannot say their name or use their logo to other clients. Wouldn't help you stand out - maybe sub-FAANG is the better reach. 
0PercentCloseRate
Politicker
1
Oh boy
Harder now because RIP Netflix stock prices lmao gottem
1nbatopshotfan
Politicker
1
Sales
What are you selling? That matters a good bit. 
Pachacuti
Politicker
0
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
For Amazon you basically have to know someone there already and network from there.
Never tried selling into Apple.
goldenlazard
Politicker
1
Senior SDR
Used to work with a Rothschild, might take the tin foil pill and ask for an intro, but I know I’ll have to give up my firstborn
Coffeesforclosers
Notable Contributor
0
Director Sales and Market Development
Can be sold, but only on their paper. They will rip your Agreement to shit. Just sign theirs its easier 
Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.
Apple Store logo
Products
The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U
Company
About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty
Contact
Press Careers
© 2024 Bravado Inc. All rights reserved.
Privacy Policy Legal and Privacy Center Sales Jobs
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.