Securing Your First Sale

Jean Michele emphasized the crucial step of securing the first sale in an interview, outlining that it's more than just a transaction - it's a validation of your business idea. Here’s why making that first sale is pivotal:

1. Sustainability: Not selling enough is a leading cause of startup failure. Learning to sell is intrinsic to the survival and growth of any business.
2. Customer Insights: Selling puts your assumptions to the test, offering a direct line to understanding customer problems and refining your solution.
3. Skill Development: The act of selling hones skills that are also fundamental to leadership, such as empathy, negotiation, and relationship-building.

How to Make Your First Sale

Here are steps and strategies Jean Michele suggests for making that all-important first sale:

1. Understand the Problem: Deeply grasp the problem you're solving. Investigate the market, learn from existing solutions, and find your unique niche.
2. Identify Your Customers: Narrow down your target customer segment. Understand who they are and where to find them, beyond just paid channels.

Sales Tips for Startups

• Clarity Over Jargon: Use clear, straightforward language in your sales pitch.
• Leverage Free Channels: You can start selling for £0. Go on reddit and get the word out. People will join the waitlist if they are interested, and you will get direct customer feedback. Use any free sources other than paid channels. Validating before you spend months in a dark room. This is the art of pretoyping.

• MVP and Validation: Launch a basic MVP within weeks, not months, to avoid working in a vacuum. Selling based on your own assumptions of the problem is the worst thing to do. In tech, the MVP is always crap. If its good, you've spent too long on it.
• Solve Personal Problems: It's almost always easier to sell when you're solving your own problem. Understand the problem well as you can. It comes across a lot more authentic, as you've experienced it all first hand.
• Direct Customer Engagement: Interact with your customers directly, especially in the early stages. Don't outsource or just hire for this. Don't self-defeat. Have conviction.
• Unconventional Tactics: Initially, it's okay to employ non-scalable tactics like personalized service to understand your market. Talk to every customer for feedback etc. If it really doesn't work, we'll give you the white glove service, go above and beyond, manage expectation.
• Pricing Strategy: Set a price; perceived value is crucial. Free doesn't always equate to desirable.
• Diagnose Non-Sales: If the product isn’t selling, determine the root cause - it's often not a lack of sales skills.
• Risk Mitigation: For high-value products, consider free trials or money-back guarantees or other ways of "de-risking" the transaction.
• Build Social Proof: Utilize testimonials and case studies from your first customers to establish credibility.
• Partnerships: If selling isn’t your strength, consider a partnership or co-founder, but choose wisely. Jean-Michelle said only 5-10% of them did what they said they were going to do.