🚨 365 Days of Stories: Day 43 – Sales Is Hard. Really Hard.
When I started my technology consulting and services business, I was stuck on a basic but brutal question:
How do I reach the right people to pitch what I’m building?
Everyone had advice:
🗣️ “Go to meetups.” 👥 “Leverage your network.” 🎤 “Attend startup events.”
The idea was simple: sales happen when you meet people.
So I gave it a shot.
📍 I went to a startup meetup in Koramangala.
VCs were on stage. Around 50 attendees — mostly in their early 20s.
And me? I felt completely out of place.
💭 The questions were too basic. The vibe felt off. Great for someone starting their journey — not for someone in the middle of it.
To make it worse, someone even tried to sell me a current account.
I walked away frustrated. That was my first and last meetup.
🧠 So I went back to the drawing board.
I asked myself — who exactly am I trying to sell to?
I built my Ideal Customer Profile (ICP):
🎯 Founders & CEOs of mid-scale tech-driven companies (FinTech, HealthTech, AgriTech) 🏢 Company size: 200–1000 employees 👨💻 Engineering team: less than 100 people
Why them?
🔹 Tech is core to their business 🔹 But their engineering team is usually small 🔹 Their product works — but may struggle to scale or compete 🔹 And they value outside tech expertise because that’s not their strength
❓ Next question: Where do these people hang out?
Definitely not at meetups. And even at large events, they’re on stage — not in the crowd.
🎪 Good events happen once a quarter in a city. And even then, Founders & CEOs come to speak or meet investors — not take sales calls.
⏳ Time was money. I couldn’t afford to wait 2–3 months for a shot.
💡 So I turned to LinkedIn.
Every founder and CEO is on LinkedIn. And I could reach out — without waiting for an event invite.
I started sending personalised connection requests every day.
📬 3 months → 500+ connection requests ✅ 166 accepted (30% success rate)
But that was just the start.
📌 I followed up with every lead 4–5 times 📆 Over 6–8 weeks 📩 Across LinkedIn + email 📊 Every message tracked
😓 But the results?
Out of 150+ promising leads… 👉 Only 2 actual conversations.
It was painful.
⚠️ And that’s when I had to ask myself:
“If I’m doing all this and still not converting — am I solving a real problem?”
Here’s what I realised:
🔸 I was pitching tech consulting — something everyone offers 🔸 My messaging wasn’t cutting through the noise 🔸 And more importantly — my offer didn’t feel urgent or essential
To a busy founder, I probably looked like just another service provider in a crowded inbox.
They weren’t ignoring me. They were ignoring one more generic pitch.
🔥 Lesson: Sales is hard — especially when your offer doesn’t sound urgent or unique. You may be solving a real problem — but if the positioning is off, no one pays attention.
🎯 You only get a few seconds in someone’s inbox. Make them count.
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