Sell small at first

Maybe you don’t have to sell the whole dang thing right away.

First, get them interested in an idea.  A possibility.  A new way of looking at the issue.

Offer a free download.  A whitepaper.  A demo copy.  Just to show what’s available.

Then, get them interested in a phone call, a meeting, an e-mail with some ‘thoughts’, a few ideas that ‘might be useful.’

From there, suggest meeting face to face, just to hear what they’re thinking, the problems they’re tinkering with, the issues on the boss’s mind.  They talk, you listen.

Next, sell them on a more detailed proposal, suggestion, solution, or configuration –only to help clarify their thinking, to provide grist for their decision.

Then get them interested in hearing the full story — presented so they can picture themselves using it, see it working in their company, picture everyone saying ‘swell idea’.

That’s when you move in and ask them when they’d like to get started.