The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Closing the Gap, Part 1

I just finished reading Eric Sinks latest article in his "The Business of Software" series on MSDN - http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsoftware/html/software02242004.asp?frame=true

He talks about how a sales guy can be very important when trying to attract new customers to your product, and one of his reasons for this is that 'Your product is very expensive'.

I totally agree that a sales guy is a great way to close the gap between your product and your customers, but what about when your product isn't expensive, and sells for say $30. You can't have a sales guy on the phone to customers to sell them your product for $30.

Does anyone have any advise/experience on closing the gap between your product and your customers, especially for lower priced products?

Ben R
Wednesday, March 24, 2004

You might still want a 'sales guy' to manage selling (for example, where and how to advertise), and for dealing with the 'channel' (the resellers and consultants who retail your product).

Christopher Wells
Wednesday, March 24, 2004

SALES is a way to LEARN about the CUSTOMER

Also, the sales guy can LEARN what the customer's ISSUES are and then turn those into reusable sales tools (website info, catalog, brochure).

Basically, I view one-on-one sales a way to "prototype" the sales process. My goal is to ELIMINATE the need for the sales person.

One view of software is that it is a way to "capture" intellectual property or expertise and make it reusable. Productizing knowledge. E.g., (good) educational software presents the lesson that a good teacher has already been using.

Sales works the same way: your "reproducible" sales materials should be infused with the knowledge of your sales people.

Not always easy, but still an effective goal.

Mr. Analogy
Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Affiliate program

Tom Vu
Wednesday, March 24, 2004