The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH)

Jen Abel is the co-founder of JJELLYFISH, where she and her team have worked with over 300 early-stage founders to learn how to sell, do early customer discovery, and set up a repeatable sales motion on the way to their first $1M ARR. In our conversation, Jen shares: • Why founder-led sales is so crucial early on • The sales process, step by step • How to craft effective outreach messages • Where to find leads • What three channels work best for outreach • What to say on your first call • How to maintain momentum • Strategies for navigating procurement and closing deals • Common pitfalls in the sales process and how to avoid them — Brought to you by: • Brave Search—A smarter way to search • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/master-founder-led-sales-jen-abel — Where to find Jen Abel: • X: https://x.com/jjen_abel • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlystagesale — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jen’s background (02:20) The importance of founder-led sales (08:24) The steps of a sales cycle (12:01) Tactics for effective cold outreach (16:47) Conversion rate vs. win rate (20:20) The time it takes to find product-market fit (23:06) Identifying and engaging prospects (30:58) Nailing the first phone call (34:14) Buying vs. selling (38:08) Testing the questions to ask (41:57) Avoiding common sales questions and securing the second call (43:08) Co-authoring with customers (45:06) Time-boxing service contracts (49:20) Why you should avoid demos on the first call (51:05) Dealing with procurement (54:22) The power of enterprise sales (58:14) Getting a signature (01:00:15) Choosing a focus and overcoming sales challenges (01:02:19) General timelines (01:04:27) Final thoughts and advice (01:13:32) Working with Jen — Referenced: • Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/ • JJELLYFISH: https://www.jjellyfish.com/ • Clay: https://www.clay.com/ • A guide for finding product-market fit in B2B: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-product-market-fit • Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/ • Christine Cacioppo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccacioppo/ • Glengarry Glen Ross: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/ • A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting • Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Pitch-Craft-Story-Stand-ebook/dp/B0CHY6BNDN • Sprig: https://sprig.com/ • Zip: https://zip.co/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe