Comments on: The Best VC Meetings are Debates not Sales http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/ Entrepreneur turned VC Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:37:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Selling- How Not to Look Like an Idiot selling startup enterpreneur http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-891 Selling- How Not to Look Like an Idiot selling startup enterpreneur Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:20:43 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-891 [...] Pitching a VC – As I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such.  You’re [...] [...] Pitching a VC – As I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such.  You’re [...]

]]> By: SiliconANGLE — Blog — Bad Sales Tactics: Crocodile Salesman http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-890 SiliconANGLE — Blog — Bad Sales Tactics: Crocodile Salesman Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:31:23 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-890 [...] I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such.  [...] [...] I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such.  [...]

]]> By: The Danger of Crocodile Sales http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-889 The Danger of Crocodile Sales Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:30:18 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-889 [...] Pitching a VC – As I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such. [...] [...] Pitching a VC – As I said in a previous post – the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Let’s be honest – raising money IS a sale and you need to treat it as such. [...]

]]> By: A Tale of Two Pitches http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-888 A Tale of Two Pitches Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:41:43 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-888 [...] recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Many people [...] [...] recently wrote a blog post here in which I argued that the best VC meetings are discussions and not sales pitches.  Many people [...]

]]> By: msuster http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-12859 msuster Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:42:43 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-12859 Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input. Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input.

]]> By: msuster http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-892 msuster Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:42:43 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-892 Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input. Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input.

]]> By: msuster http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-887 msuster Mon, 07 Sep 2009 16:42:43 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-887 Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input. Niel, you're spot on. The challenge is learning how to do the opening of the meeting so that it doesn't come across as insincere. Jumping straight into questions when you've requested the meeting can also be annoying for the receiving end. Thanks for your input.

]]> By: Niel Robertson http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-12858 Niel Robertson Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:48:10 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-12858 Interesting post and I agree whole heartedly. In my last company, an enterprise software company, I constantly tried to train the sales team to engage in a discussion with the prospect before they ever showed slide 1. Its amazing how many questions someone will answer for you if you are asking in a context that shows you're trying to understand their personal situation. If we had an hour meeting and i could get 30 minutes of preamble discussion in it, i always felt it went better. When you get to the slides you have reams of context to put every value prop into, "Joe, you mentioned you are understaffed for activity X? Well that's exactly why we developed this feature, to get you scale with fewer people". etc.. <br><br>This is all "how to win friends and influence people" stuff. Not hard. Its just reorientation around not needing the meeting to be about you. Interesting post and I agree whole heartedly. In my last company, an enterprise software company, I constantly tried to train the sales team to engage in a discussion with the prospect before they ever showed slide 1. Its amazing how many questions someone will answer for you if you are asking in a context that shows you're trying to understand their personal situation. If we had an hour meeting and i could get 30 minutes of preamble discussion in it, i always felt it went better. When you get to the slides you have reams of context to put every value prop into, “Joe, you mentioned you are understaffed for activity X? Well that's exactly why we developed this feature, to get you scale with fewer people”. etc..

This is all “how to win friends and influence people” stuff. Not hard. Its just reorientation around not needing the meeting to be about you.

]]> By: Niel Robertson http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-886 Niel Robertson Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:48:10 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-886 Interesting post and I agree whole heartedly. In my last company, an enterprise software company, I constantly tried to train the sales team to engage in a discussion with the prospect before they ever showed slide 1. Its amazing how many questions someone will answer for you if you are asking in a context that shows you're trying to understand their personal situation. If we had an hour meeting and i could get 30 minutes of preamble discussion in it, i always felt it went better. When you get to the slides you have reams of context to put every value prop into, "Joe, you mentioned you are understaffed for activity X? Well that's exactly why we developed this feature, to get you scale with fewer people". etc.. <br><br>This is all "how to win friends and influence people" stuff. Not hard. Its just reorientation around not needing the meeting to be about you. Interesting post and I agree whole heartedly. In my last company, an enterprise software company, I constantly tried to train the sales team to engage in a discussion with the prospect before they ever showed slide 1. Its amazing how many questions someone will answer for you if you are asking in a context that shows you're trying to understand their personal situation. If we had an hour meeting and i could get 30 minutes of preamble discussion in it, i always felt it went better. When you get to the slides you have reams of context to put every value prop into, “Joe, you mentioned you are understaffed for activity X? Well that's exactly why we developed this feature, to get you scale with fewer people”. etc..

This is all “how to win friends and influence people” stuff. Not hard. Its just reorientation around not needing the meeting to be about you.

]]> By: Guy Halfhead http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/08/25/the-best-vc-meetings-are-debates-not-sales/comment-page-1/#comment-885 Guy Halfhead Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:14:12 +0000 http://bothsidesofthetable.com/?p=774#comment-885 http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/tag/vision-processing-model In this description it is more for diagnosing pain, but i think it works as a good framework for a consultative conversation. I think Tim Barker put me on to it. http://www.solutionsellingblog.com/home/tag/vision-processing-model

In this description it is more for diagnosing pain, but i think it works as a good framework for a consultative conversation. I think Tim Barker put me on to it.

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