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Comment by drakaal | Hacker News Reader

>I'm an engineer, not a copywriter

Then don't think you are qualified to write copy.

You sell people by convincing them they can't live with out something. That they need it. They will do the rationalization for why they will buy it, if they feel they need it. What is the main objection to buying the latest iPhone? Cost. Often the feature differences from the previous model are not worth the price of a new phone, but people buy them by the millions. Why? they "Need" it.

If you are selling to enterprise often the biggest objection is "I'll be needed less" your product is likely going to reduce the need of the person buying it. You can't reduce that objection. What you can do is convince them that they need to reduce their work load. That it is a good thing. You don't "stomp the objection" you instill a need.

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You can't reduce that objection.

Given that this is an objection I frequently encounter from office managers who wonder why their employer needs an office manager if the computer makes 10X the phone calls for 0.1X the cost: "No, actually, this will make you even more valuable to your employer. You'll stop wasting time on the low-value task that is your current job and instead have time to level-up into $HIGHER_VALUE_TASK. And you'll get the credit for the change. Let me tell you about the ROI report: I like to call it the get-you-a-raise screen."

But again, I'm an engineer, not a copywriter. Feel free to improve on that.

The "I'm an engineer, not a copywriter" line is part of his sales message. Not an issue, because he is an engineer who also writes copy, and helps other engineers sell software. This is the sales message that drives the point home directly to the "Need." I'd rather (pay to) learn about sales and marketing from an engineer who takes data seriously. Which is his business, and selling point.

If it is his sales message he really shouldn't be a CopyWriter.

I am a CTO. I write copy all of the time. Then I hand it off to a copywriter to fix it. Engineers should write copy, even build sales pitches, but you then reach out to marketing to make sure you are on message, and that you are following the tenants of good marketing. This post doesn't do that.

He basically applied Jim Kukrals' messaging about networking to sales.

I cannot argue your points, because they seem to provide you with success. I cannot argue with Patrick's points because they seem to provide him with success. Thus I may arrive to the conclusion that there should not be any absolutes in marketing.

> If you are selling to enterprise often the biggest objection is "I'll be needed less"

Seriously? Do you have experience of this?

In my experience, people these days recognise that progress marches on, and the only viable response is to embrace it.

Seriously? Do you have experience of this?

Can't speak for the poster - but this is something I've seen a lot in the enterprise. I think it's a more common reaction with larger organisations because, due to their size, they tend to silo and specialise work more. So you see this pattern:

* You find $solution to make X better

* You try and sell $solution for X into $company - who refer you to the X department that does nothing else but focus on X

* Since $solution is very disruptive for department X - it tends to get rejected.

This might not just be because department X is thinking "I'll be needed less" - but it's very often a component of it.

In these situations it's often better to approach the head of department X, or the person in charge of the head of department X. They often can see the value more easily since they're more invested in results that the way things are done currently.

Ah, I see.

As you say, to me that's not an object to overcome. That's a sign you're talking to the wrong people.

You are an idiot.

The person who "owns" the group you are going to reduce the work of is the person who makes the decision. If you don't get this, you haven't sold to Enterprise. Small Business this doesn't hold true, Medium it only partially holds true. But in Enterprise the best sales are the ones where you are going to sell someone $100k worth of stuff that will put $200k worth of people out of a job.

The only way you overcome this is when a group is in a growth stage and doing more with less means not hiring people.

When you are selling solutions to reduce people you are often selling to the guy you are going to put out of work, or at least his manager.

Your point, true or false, is completely obscured by its first line. Please don't bring that kind of vitriol into our community here. It doesn't help convince anyone, but more to the point it grossly violates community norms against being a jerk that exist for a reason.

Yes.

Most of the time if you are selling to enterprise what is your sales pitch?

Five 9s of Uptime: So you need less staff Reduces the effort needed to <x>: So you need less staff

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