Hyperbound reposted this
CEO at Hyperbound (YC S23) | Building AI Sales Roleplay Simulations to upskill GTM teams
Here's the hardest thing about enterprise sales: Being patient... As a founder, I'm always trying to find any way to grow Hyperbound faster, build faster, sell faster—whatever it takes to reach the goal. So when our sales coach, ☠️ Belal Batrawy, sat me down today, I wasn’t prepared for this reality check: "Sai, I know you want to close this deal, but this deal won’t close until the timing is right. You have to be okay with telling the buyer they're not ready yet." That stung...💥...this was a hard pill for me to swallow. Slow it down?? My first reaction? "Why are they meeting us now if they’re not going to start the POC until 4 months from now?!" But Belal laid it out plainly: "Because buyers don’t know how to buy. It’s on you to guide them and call them out when they're being 'unreasonable' or 'optimistic'. Sometimes, you have to tell them what they don’t want to hear and be the skeptic." I took a deep breath. It took me a second to accept reality. But, it was a gut punch I needed 🥊. Will this change my urgency to close deals? No Will this stop me from sending regular follow-ups? No Will this stop me from bringing in other decision makers & multi-threading? No But this was a mindset shift that reminded me to trust the process. It reminded me of something LeBron James always says about playing basketball: "I want my legacy to be that all my teammates and the people that played against me know I play the game the right way, and I competed at a high level" Sales is no different, all you can control is "playing the game the right way". You win some, you lose some, you can only do what's in your control. And that’s what makes sales so brutal—yet so rewarding and beautiful.
A really good way to frame this, especially for those who are eager and young in their career, is that you are looking to close a long-lasting, high quality relationship that is beneficial to both parties. If you rush the sale, the customer may not be accountable or capable of onboarding/adopting appropriately, you set them up for failure, they churn, and the relationship is ruined. Always look at the long-term ideal outcome, and aim for that. It turns impatience into insight, and waiting into intelligent timing. I can't tell you how many deals I "won" by "losing" them early.
It's hard to slow down to win a deal. Big deals take patience. You're doing great Sriharsha! Big things to come in Q1 2025.
Amen brother
Kind of like those point guards that can control the pace of the game lol Some of the best founders I've worked with can turn these “slow-burn” situations into opportunities to actually strengthen qualification and build deeper access. Meanwhile AEs from their competitors get impatient and burn bridges because they’re trying to hit quota.
POC's are not a free exercise in a big bank. They have to be funded and often need to assign someone to manage the POC. And they are always planned for 2-3+ months in the future because there are many other projects, tasks and deadlines to deal with. Be patient, follow the process and support your client.
☠️ Belal Batrawy always coming with the wisdom
SaaS | Real Estate | Linkedin Top Voice | Girl Dad | Golfer 🏌️♂️
3dSriharsha this is one of the biggest benefits of young founders being willing to bring on older more seasoned people. I know many don't want anybody in their 30s let alone 40s. But I'd much rather have the seasoned experience reps as my early hires when we're building the plane in the air. Hats off to you to setting ego aside and trusting the people you brought on.