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Ask HN: Sales team as a service?

5 points by deedubaya ↗ HN
I'm a solo (engineer) founder who has built a functioning SaaS which I believe in as a side project, but am having trouble selling it.

I don't have the experience or time to get the word out about my product (thinking cold calling, emailing, etc). I do have funds from my FTE gig which can fund a sales/marketing firm as a service.

Does such a thing exist? How about vetting?

I'd like to avoid a) hiring someone full time, b) taking on a co-founder.

5 comments

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throw_market
What you are looking for is affiliates to sell your product for you. This avoids hiring someone or taking on a founder, and you only pay if someone actually signs up for your service or takes an action you want them to take.

If your SaaS is worth using and has a market, you can try to find bloggers etc to market it for you in this manner.

There are different types of agreements involved in affiliate marketing. Some people pay only after someone upgrades to a paid plan. Some pay upon sign up. Some pay a flat rate after the first purchase. Some pay lifetime commissions. The more generous your offer is, the more likely it is that affiliates will promote your product.

Examples:

Basecamp- http://37signals.com/affiliate/terms Aweber - https://www.aweber.com/affiliates.htm Uber - https://developer.uber.com/docs/riders/affiliate-program

Now if your product is too complicated to explain/needs a sales team, I don't know that there is a better option than hiring someone. But I was hoping this would help provide an option if you were not familiar with it.

deedubaya
This is helpful, thank you.

I think I do want an affiliate program.... but it's kind of a chicken and egg problem -- how do I gain affiliates when just starting out? Is there a network out there to find affiliates?