Sales tips for indie hackers
A few indie hackers asked me about pricing products. It's good to share sales tips publicly so more entrepreneurs can learn and make money online. For context, I made $2,523 last month mostly from cold sales.
When to charge?
As early as possible! How else do you know if it's a viable business?! This isn't VC land. Indie hackers need money FAST! I got my first newsletter sponsor for No CS Degree after 50 subscribers - don't wait until 10,000 please!
Why charge?
Can you imagine a cafe owner saying "Oh, I only want to charge when we are REALLY good at making coffee" They'd die in a week. Yet a maker on here said they didn't want to charge yet as they didn't think they had value. Only one way to find out!
I used to DJ and a friend once said: "I'll start playing gigs when I'm good" That's ass backwards. You get good BY playing gigs. One of my DJ idols used to trainwreck every mix when he started playing (vinyl users know what I mean...)
How to charge
OK, you've decided to charge money - great! But how? Well you can just cold email/ DM people and ask them to pay for something. Use Paypal, gumroad, Stripe or whatever tool is available in your country. Use a carrd site with stripe if you are an indie hacker that can't code. Or just use your bank account if you are in the same country.
What to charge
Ok, magic question time - how much should you charge? That all depends on supply and demand.
Do lots of people want what you have and no competition? Charge lots.
Are you in a competitive market? Charge less to get market share.
Somewhere in between? Try and find out what your competitors charge.
- Charge customer A $10.
- Then increase prices to $20.
What happens?
- If customer B pays $20 then that's awesome.
- If not, offer Customer C $10 or $15
Basically make your pricing dynamic. It relates to demand. It might piss people off as there is no standard price. Everyone hates Uber for this. But everyone still uses Uber.
Pieter Levels changes his job board prices according to demand. I was super stubborn and wouldn't do this for the longest time. I totally ignored his expert sales tips. But at the weekend I reduced the prices for my job board for software developers without degrees to $50 and got a sale yesterday.
Conclusion
Ok, that's my thoughts on pricing! Please charge money! I see loads of people making things like job boards. These are super easy to build. Building is easy. Making a business is the hard part. GET SELLING!
If you want to send me DMs on Twitter for more sales tips I can share answers without mentioning you if you want.
As an indie hacker, you are likely working alone or with a small team to develop and sell your product or service. Here are some sales tips that can help you grow your business:
Define your target audience: Clearly define your target audience, including their demographics, interests, and pain points. This will help you create a sales pitch and marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and drives conversions.
Leverage social media: Use social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit to connect with potential customers, share your product updates, and build your brand. Engage in conversations and offer valuable insights to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
Create a sales funnel: Develop a sales funnel that guides potential customers from awareness to purchase. This can include creating content that attracts prospects, offering lead magnets or free trials to capture their contact information, and following up with email campaigns and personalized outreach.
Focus on customer experience: Provide exceptional customer experience to drive repeat business and positive word-of-mouth referrals. This can include offering fast and responsive customer support, collecting feedback and acting on it, and offering loyalty rewards or incentives.
Collaborate with influencers: Partner with influencers in your niche to promote your product and reach a wider audience. This can include offering them a free trial or discount code to share with their followers, or sponsoring their content to get more exposure.
Thanks for the thoughts, definitely agree. On your How to charge section you mention cold emails and DMs - how much to you qualify your leads? What does the process of deciding who to email look like?