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- Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, Pouyan Salehi
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable, Pouyan Salehi
Wes Schaeffer
August 10, 2021
Launch, Grow, and Scale Your Business
Sales Tips you’ll learn today on The Sales Podcast…
Lots of ups and downs, with more downs than ups
Apple was filled with driven people
They worked hard
Lots of trips to supply chain
Jeff Williams was a great leader who asked great questions to make you think
You can fill up the space with key questions, not just flapping your gums
Attention to detail is key
If I’m comfortable, I’m uncomfortable.”
He left Apple and hit a brick wall but he wanted to do his own thing
He wanted to make a bigger impact by doing his own business
Joined a team as an advisor
It wasn’t the “right time.”
There is always a reason not to launch
He had business school debt
His wife was one year into law school
Left Apple on a Friday, was starting on Monday, and on Sunday he learned his wife was pregnant with their first child while they had a reduction in income and no benefits
It was not easy
Finding a team that works well together is hard to do
Most companies die from the inside
How do you know what problem is worth solving?
Look for the signal
Work backward
Get some signal in the market first
Try to sell your solution before you build it, which is easier to do in the SaaS space
Can you articulate your problem and solution ahead of time?
It was a tedious process launching Scratchpad
CRMs like Salesforce are tools for management
Sales reps create their own workspaces
It was an exercise in storytelling
That informed what part of the product to build and it let us know the talent and skillset we needed to build it
He’s a fan of direct outbound
Have a thesis of who has this problem and reach out to them
Experiment on your messaging
You don’t go for the close on a cold call
It’s baby steps
Don’t make assumptions (Follow the New ABCs of Selling)
Speed to market and profitability comes from simplicity
Product design is key