{"id":10457,"date":"2020-07-11T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-12T01:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=10457"},"modified":"2020-07-10T22:03:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T02:03:58","slug":"how-to-sell-your-product","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-sell-your-product\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Sell Your Product: Peter Thiel’s Advice for Startups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you have a great discovery, and want to know how to sell your product<\/a>? There are several strategies you can use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning how to sell your product is an important part of your launch plan. Without knowing how to sell a product<\/a>, your amazing tech could go unnoticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How to Sell Your Product<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of distribution, which encompasses whatever it takes to sell your product (advertising, sales, marketing, and distribution channels). But understanding distribution and having a plan for it is critical to a company\u2019s success\u2060\u2014it should be part of designing your product<\/strong>. Learning how to sell your product is a huge part of your success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We often overlook the importance of distribution because society in general looks down on salespeople and advertising as dishonest and manipulative. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs take this a step further\u2014because of a bias toward building rather than selling, they often believe their product is so superior it should sell itself: if they build it, customers will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But customers won\u2019t buy your product automatically; you have to sell it, which is more challenging than many entrepreneurs and engineers realize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hidden Art of Selling<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Silicon Valley \u201cnerds\u201d should care about advertising because it works\u2014or it wouldn\u2019t be a $150 billion industry that employs more than 600,000 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sales works differently than many people think. They think they\u2019re not influenced by pitches because they don’t run out and buy the advertised items. But advertising\u2019s intent isn\u2019t to get you to buy a product right away, it\u2019s to leave an impression with you that will drive sales later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sales process is often subtle\u2014selling is a hidden art that secretly drives the economy. And knowing how to sell your product from the get-go can give you a leg up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All salespeople are actors; like actors, their priority is persuasion, not transparency. We react negatively to inept salespeople (\u201cused-car salesman\u201d is a slur), but the best salespeople are masters who sell without our realizing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Mark Twain\u2019s character Tom Sawyer persuaded his friends to whitewash a fence for him. That took talent, but his masterstroke was convincing them to pay him<\/em> for the privilege of doing so. They never caught on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales still works best when hidden. Sales is never mentioned in anyone\u2019s job title\u2014for instance,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

advertising salespeople are \u201caccount executives;\u201d fundraisers trying to sell you on a cause work in \u201cdevelopment,\u201d and those who sell companies are \u201cinvestment bankers.\u201d Yet sales ability in each position separates superstars from average performers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While engineers like to assert that a great product will sell itself, there\u2019s another business maxim that the best product doesn\u2019t always come out on top. If you’ve created a new product but not an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business regardless of your product\u2019s quality. That’s why knowing how to sell a product matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Sell Your Product<\/strong>: Distribution & Strategies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of how great your product is, you still need an effective distribution plan<\/strong>. Furthermore, even if your product is no better than average, it\u2019s possible to create a monopoly with a superb sales and distribution plan. That\u2019s how important distribution is. Knowing about how to sell your product and distribute it, whatever your strategy, matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two considerations for planning a sales strategy for your product: customer lifetime value and customer acquisition cost<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n