Namaste everyone!
If you are reading this, chances are you are trying to make sense of B2B sales. Maybe you are building a product and struggling to close your first few customers, or maybe you are realising that selling B2B feels very different from everything you expected.
We were in the same place.
While building BeyondChats, a B2B SAAS product selling to hospitals, we made almost every early mistake possible. We believed that if we explained the product clearly, showed enough features, and priced it reasonably, things would move forward on their own. That assumption did not last very long.
We learned many things the hard way. Through this blog, I want to share those learnings so that the journey becomes a little easier for you.
Sales Before Product-Market Fit Is Not a Process
Early B2B sales does not feel like a clean funnel. There is no predictable playbook. You are constantly testing assumptions.
- Who actually feels this problem?
- Who has budget authority?
- Who needs to sign off?
- Who can block the decision even if everyone else agrees?
In the beginning, we treated sales like a linear process. Over time, we realised it was closer to exploration. Every conversation was teaching us something new about how hospitals function, where friction exists, and why some problems stay unsolved for years.
Until we talked to the stakeholders, we kept making the product perfect.
Founders Have to Do Sales Themselves
We thought hiring salespeople early will help. But we learned that this work could not be delegated early on.
Not because others are incapable, but because founders carry something essential into these conversations. We understood the problem deeply because we had seen it first-hand. We believed in the solution because we had built it to solve very specific pain points.
That conviction shows up in subtle ways. It changes how you listen, how you respond, and how honestly you talk about limitations.
Before product-market fit, sales is not a role. It is a responsibility.
Talking to the Wrong People Feels Like Progress
One of the easiest traps to fall into early is talking to anyone who is willing to talk.
We did this too. Doctors, junior staff, friendly stakeholders who had opinions and feedback. These conversations were encouraging, and they gave us the feeling that we were moving forward.
But many of them could never actually buy.
That was a hard lesson. Easy conversations are not always useful ones. If the person you are speaking to does not feel the problem deeply enough, the authority to act, or the budget to spend, their feedback can be misleading.
Real progress started only when we became disciplined about who we spoke to.
Healthcare Taught Us Something Very Specific
Talking to doctors was invaluable for understanding the pain points. But deals did not move until operations teams, IT, and leadership were involved.
Hospitals are complex systems. Adoption requires coordination across departments, not just excitement from one group. This forced us to rethink how we positioned BeyondChats and how we structured conversations from the start.
The First Call Is About Listening, Not Pitching
In the early days, we made the mistake most founders make. We jumped straight into explaining what we had built.
Over time, we learned to slow down.
The first call is about understanding the problem, not selling the solution. Asking how long the issue has existed. How it affects patients and staff. What happens if it is not solved. How software purchases actually get approved.
Sometimes these conversations revealed that the problem was not urgent or important enough to justify a purchase. Walking away early saved everyone time, including us.
A Demo Should Feel Like Their Story
The demos that worked best were never feature walkthroughs.
They were stories.
We framed the demo around the hospital’s real workflow, their actual constraints, and their daily challenges. When people could see themselves using the product in their environment, the conversation shifted from curiosity to seriousness.
Good demos do not show everything. They show what matters to the stakeholders.
Pricing Is an Experiment
Pricing was uncomfortable in the beginning, and that was a good sign.
There is no perfect formula early on. Each pricing conversation is a learning opportunity. If everyone says yes immediately, you are probably underpricing. If everyone walks away, you may be too early or solving the wrong problem.
When we quoted a higher price, it helped us identify customers who truly needed the solution rather than those who were just exploring.
What B2B Sales Changed for Us
B2B sales fundamentally reshaped how we think about BeyondChats.
It forced us to slow down, ask better questions, and stop assuming that interest automatically leads to adoption. It made us more disciplined about who we speak to, more honest about what we can and cannot solve, and more patient with the realities of complex organisations like hospitals.
Over time, we stopped thinking of sales as a sequence of steps and started seeing it as a long-term responsibility. Responsibility towards the customer, the problem they are trying to solve, and the outcome they expect after choosing us.
Originally published on Medium.
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