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Bill Dickinson has spent over 35 years selling business to business, building sales teams, and working with CEOs on optimizing their sales processes for many hardware suppliers.\xa0From building access machines to communication equipment to IT components, Bill has helped build a number of companies to multi-millions in new sales.\xa0Today Bill is going to share some valuable knowledge on how inventors, startups, and small manufacturers should apply sales to getting your product going, start with your first sales hire or sales partner, and scale your product business through sales teams, especially when selling to other business like retailers, distributors, and wholesalers.\nToday you will hear us talk about:\n\nSales is critical to any hardware start-up or scale-up, from selling yourself, selling the business, selling\xa0\n\nHiring for personality is better than hiring for product or industry knowledge\n\nWhat type of product are you selling\n\nWhat methods are you going to use to sell\n\nSellers need a quality product, at a fair price, that has great service and/or support.\n\nBefore you start selling, first ensure you have a need.\n\nTiming, luck, and skill, in that order, when doing cold calling.\n\nMake sure you have a product that is at least a little bit different, and unique.\n\nSpend time and effort finding detailed lists.\n\nRelationship selling.\xa0Build credibility and trust early, and in a small way.\n\nIf you can make the purchaser\u2019s life simpler, they will buy a lot more, and more new products\n\n3 sales streams - Straight sales, existing customer sales, and business development\n\nSome new, existing, and future.\n\nMore connections to a buyer, the higher the probability of an eventual sale.\n\n\nEPISODE LINKS\nBill Dickinson Link:\n\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-dickinson-31678a67/\n\n\nThe Product Startup Podcast Links:\n\n\nWebsite: https://www.ProductStartup.com/\n\n\n\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ProductStartup/\n\n\n\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ProductStartup/\n\n\n\nFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ProductStartup/\n\n\n\nFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ProductStartup/\n\n\n\nPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ProductStartup/\n\n\n\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/ProductStartup\n\n\n\nYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent\n\n\n\nMako Design Links:\n\n\nWebsite: https://www.makodesign.com/\n\n\n\nYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/MakoInvent\n\n\n\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/MakoInvent/\n\n\n\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/MakoDesign/\n\n\n\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/MakoInvent/\n\n\n\nPinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/MakoInvent/\n\n\n\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/MakoInvent/\n\n\n\nKevin Mako Links:\n\n\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/Entrepreneurs/\n\n\n\nLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/KevMako/\n\n\n\nQuora: https://www.quora.com/profile/Kevin-Mako\n\n\n\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/KevMakoPage/\n\n\n\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/KevMako/\n\n\n\nAbout: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry\u2019s leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about Mako Design + Invent!