What sales process should I follow if I've never sold anything before?

The short answer

Keep it simple: qualify hard, do a discovery call before ever demoing, tailor the demo to the problem they told you about, then ask for the close with a real deadline. Write down what happens at each stage and treat it as a repeatable pipeline, not one-off improvisation. Founding Sales and SPIN Selling give you a ready-made playbook to copy.

Go deeper, your way

17 hand-picked resources, 17 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

Watch a video 2 Listen to a podcast 2 Read an article 12 Use a tool 1

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Pete Koomen took Optimizely from zero to $100M+ ARR, and here he breaks the enterprise funnel down for exactly the person who finds it terrifying: the technical founder who has never sold. It is the clearest short primer we know on how a builder starts closing real deals.

Enterprise Sales for Founders

On Y Combinator Startup School by Pete Koomen ~35 min

Founders can and should run enterprise sales themselves early, treating each deal as a source of product feedback
Map the funnel stage by stage and know which stakeholder you need at each one
Identify a real champion inside the account and use them to reach the economic buyer
A repeatable, learnable process beats charisma when selling complex software

Open ycombinator.com →

▶️ Video

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it When you are new to a space, your instinct is to explain your idea and hope people nod, which teaches you nothing. This YC talk is a concrete guide to running discovery interviews the right way: extract data from the person instead of pitching, and use a small set of questions that work in any industry, including one you are still learning. It pairs well with The Mom Test as the applied version you can watch before your next call.

How to Talk to Users

On Y Combinator (Startup School) by Eric Migicovsky ~25 min

The interview is to extract data, not to sell: stop talking about your idea and let them talk about their problem.
Skip hypothetical questions (would you use this) and ask what they have actually done to solve the problem today.
A handful of questions works across any industry, so you can start interviewing before you are an expert in the space.

Watch on YouTube youtube.com →

🎧 Podcast

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Jen Abel has coached over 300 early-stage founders through their first sales, so this is grounded in what actually happens when an operator turns founder and has to open the first conversations. The core move here reframes your worry: treat those first outreaches as research, not pitches, which is precisely how you tap your old network without it feeling like you are cashing in on the relationship. Audio, video, and a full transcript are all on the page, so pick whichever way you learn.

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

On Lenny's Podcast by Lenny Rachitsky with Jen Abel About 1 hour 16 minutes

Treat early sales conversations as customer discovery: you are learning whether the problem is real, which lets a former colleague engage without feeling sold to.
There is a repeatable structure to first calls, demos, and follow-ups, so warmth from your network is the opener, not the whole plan.
Founder-led selling is expected at this stage; your industry context is an asset when you lead with the problem instead of the product.

Open lennysnewsletter.com →

🎧 Podcast

✓ Link checked India Free Intermediate

Why we picked it An Indian founder story where the early demand test was manual, cold emails and direct outreach to find the first customers before the product had proven itself. It is a grounded counterpoint to the landing page: sometimes the fastest way to measure intent in a B2B market is to ask people to commit directly. Useful if your buyers are enterprises who will never fill in a consumer style waitlist form.

How Khadim Batti Built Whatfix Into a Global SaaS Leader

On Prime Venture Partners Podcast by Prime Venture Partners ~50 min

In B2B, direct outreach can measure intent faster than a public page
A first paying customer is the strongest demand signal there is
Early traction in India often comes from manual hustle, not viral pages

Open primevp.in →

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it The authoritative handbook on founder-led sales, written for technical/first-time sellers building B2B SaaS. Readable free online via membership, and covers the whole motion end to end.

Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook

From foundingsales.com by Peter Kazanjy book (~400 pages)

Do ~50 demos and hit a ~20%+ win rate before hiring your first sales rep.
Discovery before demo, understand the problem before you pitch.
Dedicated chapters on prospect outreach and demo appointment setting.
Turn founder selling into a documented, repeatable, transferable process.

Open foundingsales.com →

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it The research-backed classic on consultative selling, the antidote to 'pushy salesperson' instincts. Its Situation-Problem-Implication-Need framework is exactly how founders should run calls.

SPIN Selling

From McGraw-Hill by Neil Rackham book (~200 pages)

Ask Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-payoff questions in sequence.
In complex/high-value sales, listening beats pitching.
Make the cost of the unsolved problem vivid before proposing a solution.
Closing hard works for small deals; discovery wins the big ones.

Open amazon.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Blomfield (founder of Monzo and GoCarchless, now a YC partner) gives the concrete mechanics of closing that first B2B deal: pick one wedge product and sell it hard for a couple of weeks, run paid pilots not vague free design partnerships, and use opt-out contracts to convert. It is the tactical how-to for turning your one target customer into a signed, paying pilot while you are still employed.

The Sales Playbook for Founders

From Y Combinator Startup Library by Tom Blomfield 25 min read

Charge for the pilot: a paid pilot with clear success criteria is real proof; a long, undefined free design partnership is the most common founder mistake and proves nothing
Pick a narrow wedge and sell it aggressively for two weeks; if it does not land, switch the wedge rather than piling on features
Find and cultivate an internal champion who sells for you when you are not in the room, which is how a single evening-and-weekend deal actually closes inside a company

Open ycombinator.com →

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Paid Intermediate

Why we picked it Written by a former FBI hostage negotiator, not a sales trainer, which is exactly why it works for founders who recoil at 'sales' language. It teaches you to listen for what a prospect is actually objecting to underneath what they're saying, a skill that transfers directly to pricing and closing conversations. Use the labeling and mirroring techniques on your very next call, they work in a five minute conversation as well as a hostage standoff.

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It

From Chris Voss

Mirroring and labeling get a prospect to reveal the real objection behind their stated one
Getting to 'no' first often opens a more honest conversation than chasing an early yes
These are listening techniques, not manipulation tricks, and they're learnable

Open blackswanltd.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it This is the practical, step by step version of the discovery call our answer says to run before you ever demo: what to ask, in what order, and how to know a lead is worth a second call. It's written for someone doing this for the first time, with an actual checklist you can keep open during the call.

18 Steps to a Successful Discovery Call

From Close ~15 min read

Discovery is a separate call from the demo, never combine them
Ask about budget, timeline, and decision process before you pitch anything
End every discovery call with an agreed next step and a date

Open close.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it MEDDIC gives you a checklist for the 'qualify hard' part of our answer: metrics, economic buyer, decision criteria, decision process, pain, champion. You don't need the whole enterprise version on day one, but running a lead through these six questions before you demo will save you from pitching people who can never actually buy.

MEDDIC Sales Methodology and Process

From MEDDICC ~15 min read

Know who can actually sign before you invest in a demo
A prospect who can't name their own pain isn't ready to buy yet
A champion inside the account matters as much as the buyer you're talking to

Open meddicc.com →

📖 Book

✓ Link checked Paid Beginner

Why we picked it The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past behaviour, not your idea, so you can't be lied to. If a founder reads one thing before talking to a single customer, it's this.

The Mom Test

From momtestbook.com by Rob Fitzpatrick ~130 pages

Talk about their life, not your idea.
Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future.
'That's so cool, I'd totally buy it' is a compliment, not data, dig for commitment and evidence.

Open momtestbook.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution strategy in real company examples.

How to win your first 10 B2B customers

From Lenny's Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky ~15 min read

Content/SEO is a surprisingly dominant B2B channel (Vanta, Amplitude, Figma, HubSpot).
The core B2B channels: self-serve inbound, sales-assist inbound, outbound, content, paid, partnerships.
Pick and systematize the one channel that compounds for you.
Distribution strategy should follow evidence, not fashion.

Open lennysnewsletter.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it When your first ten will come from cold outreach, this guide gives you the full mechanics: building a target list, qualifying, writing the email, and running follow-ups without being annoying. It is the operational counterpart to the Lenny and YC pieces, showing the actual day-to-day of prospecting. Work through it as a checklist for your outbound.

The Ultimate Startup Guide to Outbound Sales

From Close by Steli Efti Multi-chapter guide

Build a tight, specific list of the right people before you write anything.
Qualify hard so you spend time on prospects who can actually buy.
Structured follow-up, not a single email, is where most deals are won.

Open close.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Steli Efti (YC alum, co-founder of Close CRM) is one of the most trusted voices on startup outbound and cold email, practical, battle-tested, and free.

The Close Sales Blog (Steli Efti on cold email & founder sales)

From Close by Steli Efti article series

A great cold email answers the right question with a single clear call to action.
The subject line must spark curiosity and promise what the body delivers.
Follow up persistently, most replies come after the first email.
Objections are buying signals; welcome and dig into them.

Open close.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it This is the best method for the exact job of learning an industry's language when you cannot yet get face time with people in it. Hoy shows how to lurk in the forums, reviews, and comment threads where your audience already talks, and mine their real words, pains, and workarounds. Do this and you will start speaking the vocabulary before anyone can tell you are new.

Sales Safari in Action

From Stacking the Bricks (Amy Hoy) by Amy Hoy video walkthrough

Find the watering holes where your audience already complains in public
Collect their exact words, pains, and existing workarounds
Observation at scale can precede one-on-one interviews

Open stackingthebricks.com →

📄 Article

✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it A data-backed teardown of how companies like Figma, Gusto, and Vanta actually sourced their earliest customers. Replaces guesswork with real patterns.

How today's fastest-growing B2B startups found their first ten customers

From Lenny's Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky ~15 min read

Only three sourcing strategies power nearly all very-early B2B growth.
Tap your personal network first (Gusto's first 10 were friends/YC batchmates).
Reach influential users via direct outreach (Figma cold-emailed top designers).
Start with the highest-trust channels and work outward.

Open lennysnewsletter.com →

🛠️ Tool

✓ Link checked Freemium Beginner

Why we picked it Our answer's second half is about treating sales as a repeatable pipeline, not one-off calls, and that needs somewhere to write it down. HubSpot's free tier gives you stages, deal cards, and a simple view of where every conversation actually is, enough to run your first 20 to 50 deals before you need anything fancier.