The Top 10 Questions Founders Ask Me (and My Brutally Honest Answers)

If you were a fly on the wall in my office, listening to all the conversations I have with founders across Europe, here's what you'd hear.

I get asked a lot of questions.

Here are the Top 10 FAQs I get asked - and my honest answers.

1. Why are you so obsessed with finding pain in discovery calls?

I get this a lot 😅.

Because there are no sales if there is no pain, the world of selling just for the sake of it is over.

The world of buying multiple solutions "to test it out" is gone, too.

We are in an era of consolidation of the tech stack. No pains, no gains.

(You may sell for the first year, and the second year is churn, which is even worse than not selling in the first place)

2. Is my pricing too high, too low?

This is one of the most asked...while of course it depends on your product/service, if people buy without asking for a discount, probably your price is too low.

If people are scared away (literally, you can see in video calls they actually open their eyes wider when you present pricing), then it's too high.

You need to find the right friction.

The facial expression of your prospect should be: I need this, but wow, it's a bit expensive...

3. When should we hire our first Account Executive?

When you have sold your first 100K as a founder.

First 100K is on you, you learn how to position, how to manage rebuttals, and you get honest feedback.

4. Who should be our first hire?

Sales Development Representative. SDRs play a key role at the beginning.

They can take off your hands so much work, like prospecting and cold calling.

Plus, being young, they can learn a lot working with founders, and it's a sound career projection.

6. Can we use Notion instead of the CRM?

No.

7. What can I expect from a 3-month engagement with you?

You can expect to build your first sales playbook and team. From lead management to renewal and upselling, and everything in between.

The foundations are built on a B2B proven international sales process; now it's your time to take it from there yourself or with a full-time sales leader.

8. Which are the flags I should look at when looking at my CRM?

• No amount.
• No closed date or past close date.
• Less than 3 decision makers are involved in any deal.
• Too much stalling time in stages.
• The age of the deal is too high compared to your sales cycle.

9. When's the time to pivot?

When you have reached out consistently and with a proven system to thousands of people, and you have a win rate below 20%.

10. Why is sales so difficult?

Sales are difficult because buying something has increasingly become difficult.

The years of compulsory buying are over (2020-2021), we are now in a world where buyers are more sceptical and have (literally) less money.

On the other hand, there is a proliferation of tools and software thanks to the low cost of building and shipping with AI.

This creates noise and confusion. It scares people away, it disengages them.

That's why getting attention is harder.

Plus, the lack of discovery of pains and needs, well, everything becomes "nice to have".