Hacker News Books

1. The best book I've read on sales is:

"How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling"(1952) by Frank Bettger

2. Everything at Heavybit is excellent,

their sales videos are very nice:

http://www.heavybit.com/library/developer-sales

And an must see video for me was:

http://www.heavybit.com/library/video/2015-05-12-jason-lemki...

for sales- frank bettger- How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

I mention it as a comment of this- as frank regularly quotes this book

1. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

2. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger

3. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steven Gary Blank

1. How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling, Bettger

A good intro to sales, and a very good book on self-development.

2. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, Lowenstein

A story about LTCM, one of the early and most notorious "quant" hedge funds. A cheeky nod to intellectualism.

3. Liar's Poker, Lewis

Investment banking through a trader's eyes. Yes, the absurdity is only partly dramatized.

4. Pimp: The Story of My Life, Iceberg Slim

No pithy blurb can summarize this; read it if you want a look into human nature.

5. The Six-Month Fix: Adventures in Rescuing Failing Companies, Sutton

Written by a friend and a mentor; may he rest. Gives you a sobering account of what really goes behind the scenes of many companies, along with their management.

Apologies; I know this list isn't focused on more humbling professions like the examples you gave.

1. Pricing:

If your clients pay for the software from grant money - find out about these grants before deciding on your pricing. People won't have a lot of hesitation on price if its not their money - but grant money - that they'll be spending.

So find out what kind of grants your clients opt for. Whats the average value of that grant. Is it a specific purpose grant? And fix your pricing accordingly.

2. Book recommendations:

i. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling - by Frank Bettger
(The best book on selling I've read)

ii. Bag the Elephant - by Steve Kaplan
(Book for selling to big clients)

Jeffrey Gitomer books on selling are also good.

3. Selling Ideas

Record short interviews with your current clients. Ask them the following questions:

i. What was your perception about my product / solution before you bought it?

ii. How has that perception changed?

(Answer to the above 2 questions gives you the before-and-after scenario. Powerful testimonial stuff.)

iii. What is the biggest benefit you gained from using my product?

iv. What are some other benefits you received?

v. Do you think the price is reasonable?

vi. Would you recommend the solution to others?

Obviously - ask for their name and title and stuff too.

Record such 10 minute interviews. Compile all the interviews in 1 DVD. And you have a very powerful sales tool.

Using such tools work wonders for folks who aren't good at personal face-to-face selling. Let others sell your solution to your target audience.

Mail these DVDs with a 1-2 page sales letter to folks in other cities (Let me know if you need help with the sales letter too - I've written a few that have done well). And follow up by phone after 3-5 days. And then follow up again.

As others have recommended, tradeshows and conferences are very good to get your foot in and raise awareness too.