You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar
by David H. Sandler, John Hayes · first published 1995
4mentions
3recommended by
4HN commenters
2011–2024first – last mentioned
75% recommend25% critical
David H. Sandler was a salesman who hated everything about the typical sales process. He hated making cold calls and giving presentations only to discover prospects did not have the money or authority to buy his products. He also disliked waiting for prospects to make up their minds about buying, because he knew the prospects were using their time to approach other suppliers to find better deals. Sandler decided to turn the sales process on its head and put the salesperson, not the buyer, in control. He wrote You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar to explain the Sandler Selling
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…books. They helped me become the programmer I am much more than any programming book. Differentiate or Die - Jack Trout Art of the Start - Guy Kawasaki Controlling Software Projects - Tom DeMarco You Can't Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar - David Sandler Carnegie - Peter Krass Do More Faster - Brad Feld and David Cohen Founders at Work - Jessica Livingston But if I had to pick only one: How to Get Rich - Felix Dennis because…
on “What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?” ↗…of the advice here is spot on but it reaches past the point that you landed a customer at a project price that you can endure for some period of time. A book that helped me with this a great deal was "You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar" by Sandler
on “Ask HN: How do I make the move to consultant?” ↗It might be a good idea to get some training or coaching. I learned Sandler but there are probably others. There is a book that’s an intro to the system called You Can’t Teach a Kid to Ride a Bike at a Seminar
on “Ask HN: Any good essays/books/advice about software sales?” ↗…let them know about it?'. To that answer, I doubt - cold calls 'brrr' - will ever be a top choice. Otherwise, thanks for sharing your team members stories. ps. here are the 2 starred reviews from the 'you can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar' book (what kind of title is that anyways? Surely you CAN teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar. How better to teach a kid? By having them read a book? Maybe it should be called 'you can't teach…
on “Lessons from a Dell Executive who Joined a YC Startup” ↗