The hottest Sales Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Lessons From Over 13 Million Naira Worth of Organic WhatsApp Sales

Day One • 758 implied HN points • 24 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Marketing Content creation Data Analysis Customer Support
  1. Building trust and authority through valuable content is essential for selling products or services online
  2. Utilizing testimonials and free high-quality content can greatly persuade potential customers to make a purchase
  3. Addressing objections, providing ongoing support, and reducing buyer's remorse are key to maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty

The inside story of Amplitude’s new self-service plan

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 252 implied HN points • 06 Mar 24
💼 Business Marketing Growth Product Development Sales Revenue
  1. Launching a self-service plan can lead to significant improvements in conversion rates, even if initial numbers are low
  2. It's important to involve the sales team in the self-serve journey to avoid cannibalization and maintain a healthy balance between self-service and enterprise sales
  3. Revisiting pricing and packaging is crucial for the success of a self-service model, including conducting user interviews, analyzing features, and monitoring competitors

[Launch] I wrote a book on Growth Marketing

Channels of Growth • 687 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
💼 Business Marketing Startups Entrepreneurship Product Management Sales
  1. The book 'Channels of Growth' focuses on a Growth Marketing Framework for dominating channels and building better products.
  2. All users come from channels when it comes to growth, emphasizing the importance of understanding and optimizing these channels.
  3. The book aims to provide a personal Growth Marketing framework based on lessons from over $100M+ spent on growing products.

Why, When, and How to add Sales to your Product-Led Growth motion.

Elena's Growth Scoop • 786 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
💼 Business Sales Product-led growth Enterprise Competitors Growth Strategies
  1. Product-Led Growth (PLG) allows products to scale endlessly and adapt quickly to market changes.
  2. Adding sales to PLG is necessary for B2B companies to capture enterprise market and drive growth.
  3. When considering adding sales, focus on complex products, higher AOVs, and the need for sales assistance.
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BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY’S TOBACCO HISTORY PART VII - CONWOOD: A REMARKABLE COMPANY

Reflections on "Going Down Tobacco Road" and Investing • 452 implied HN points • 16 Jan 24
💼 Business Management Finance Marketing Sales Operations
  1. Conwood was a unique and successful company acquired by Reynolds American in 2006.
  2. The management at Conwood had a dedicated leadership team that contributed to its success.
  3. Conwood's unique culture and focus on product quality and cost control made it a profitable venture.

Caveat emptor: product-led growth in cybersecurity can be a great idea, but it can also hurt or even kill security startups

Venture in Security • 235 implied HN points • 31 Jan 24
💼 Business Cybersecurity Product-led growth Sales Market Strategy Startups
  1. Product-led growth in cybersecurity can be beneficial for growth and reaching security practitioners.
  2. Product-led growth can harm cybersecurity startups by undermining traditional sales channels, causing revenue cannibalization, and leading to misplaced focus.
  3. Startups should carefully consider if their product is suitable for self-serve, avoid jeopardizing sales opportunities, and focus on value over rapid implementation of PLG.

CBW Bank, A BaaS Pioneer, Is Up For Sale: Exclusive

Fintech Business Weekly • 59 implied HN points • 17 Mar 24
💼 Business Fintech Banking Regulation Innovation Sales
  1. CBW Bank, a pioneer in Banking-as-a-Service, is up for sale, showing continued challenges in bank/fintech partnerships.
  2. CBW Bank grew significantly under new ownership, focusing on innovation and providing API access for startups and banks to build digital banking solutions faster.
  3. Regulatory shifts and challenges in innovation may have led to CBW's decision to sell, highlighting the impact of changing regulatory attitudes on banks like CBW.

Part 1: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-February 2024

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 148 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
💰 Finance Housing Market Real Estate Mortgage Rates Inventory Sales
  1. The 2-part overview offers insights into the current state of the housing market for mid-February 2024, covering aspects like house prices, sales, inventory, mortgage rates, and rents.
  2. New listings for existing homes were up 2.8% year-over-year in January 2024, showing a slight increase from the previous year's record low for January, potentially signaling an increase in overall inventory for the market.
  3. It's important to note that December and January are typically the weakest months for new listings, and while new listings are expected to show year-over-year growth in 2024, March data will provide a clearer picture of their proximity to normal levels.

Book publishing's sonic boom

SHuSH, by Kenneth Whyte • 235 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
📚 Literature Publishing Authors Industry Sales
  1. Audiobooks continue to experience significant growth, representing a considerable portion of book sales.
  2. Audible, owned by Amazon, remains dominant in the audiobook market, with a large lead over competitors like Spotify and Apple.
  3. The audiobook industry is crowded, with various retail platforms and production houses vying for content and market share.

Why Must You Pay Sales People Commissions?

Dan’s Substack • 2 HN points • 19 Apr 24
💼 Business Sales Compensation Company Culture Employee Motivation Organizational Behavior
  1. Salespeople being paid commissions is a common practice, but it can lead to various recurring problems like high turnover and internal disputes.
  2. Research suggests that higher incentives, like commissions, can actually reduce performance in some cases, which is a counter-intuitive result.
  3. The debate over sales commissions reflects two different views of worker motivation: Theory X, where employees are seen as lazy and need external rewards, and Theory Y, where workers are viewed as self-motivated and thrive on autonomy.

How I learnt to do sales, despite being a coder

Recontact • 39 implied HN points • 29 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Entrepreneurship Networking Customer Relations Communication
  1. Always be passionate and excited about talking about your work and shamelessly sell to potential clients.
  2. In sales, key strategies include outbound, inbound, personal network sales, and handling calls for closing deals.
  3. Engage with clients genuinely, be a good listener during calls, follow up with gratitude, and strategically approach asking for payments.

Your guide to sales compensation & PLG

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 631 implied HN points • 26 Jul 23
💼 Business Sales Compensation Software companies SaaS
  1. Sales compensation design involves understanding company goals, seller profiles, and using compensation to drive desired behaviors.
  2. Components of a sales compensation plan include OTE, base salary, variable comp, quota, quota attainment, and more.
  3. When designing a sales compensation plan for a PLG business, consider business goals, roles needed, best practices, and behaviors to incentivize.

Becoming a sales-engineer

Leading Developers • 48 implied HN points • 20 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Management Career development Customer Relations Product Development
  1. Acquiring new skills through new challenges can be exciting and lead to unexpected career paths.
  2. Transitioning from a technical role to sales doesn't mean losing technical skills - understanding the product deeply remains crucial.
  3. Sales engineering roles offer variety, immediate value, and potential for lucrative rewards, but require strong communication and collaboration skills.

3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in January; California Home Sales Up 5.9% YoY in January

CalculatedRisk Newsletter • 47 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
💼 Business Housing Markets Real Estate Sales Inventory Mortgage Rates
  1. California home sales were up 5.9% year-over-year in January, marking the first year-over-year sales gain in 31 months.
  2. Active listings in California decreased year-over-year for the 10th month but new listings increased, suggesting some balance in the market.
  3. In January, closed sales in various markets were up 3.0%, showing improvement compared to the previous month, but they are down compared to January 2019 levels.

Mixed News on iPhone 15 Models

CIRP - Apple Report • 78 implied HN points • 17 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Mobile Electronics Sales Apple
  1. First full quarter results for iPhone 15 models showed decent sales shares compared to iPhone 14 models in the previous quarter.
  2. iPhone 15 Pro Max was the leading model, accounting for 26% of all iPhone sales in the quarter.
  3. Base and Plus models of iPhone 15 had differences in sales performance compared to the Pro and Pro Max models.