Title: Getting Your First 10 Customers, with Sell Anything’s Sean Grealy
Session context
- Format: Masterclass + live Q&A, hands-on tactics and scripts
- Goal: Book meetings fast, win first 10 customers, and turn unscalable actions into a repeatable sales motion
- Speaker: Sean Grealy (ex-founder; venture studio go-to-market lead; runs sales accelerators)
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/seangrealy/
Core mindset
- Doctor, not Wolf of Wall Street: diagnose, prescribe, earn trust
- Do things that don’t scale to learn fast; then document and systemize
- Everyone sells from 0→$1M ARR: product, eng, marketing, CS—align on revenue and learning
Buyer journey (don’t skip beyond “closed-won”)
- Awareness → Consideration → Decision → Onboarding/Adoption → Expansion/Advocacy
- Your job early: guide buyers step-by-step, reduce friction, define who does what/when
Minimum viable sales process (early-stage)
- Prospect → Qualify → Discover → Demo/Proof → Follow-up → Close
- Build the playbook from real calls. After 20–40 meetings, lock a basic process:
- Repeatable assets: info pack, meeting agenda, reminder cadence, trial terms, pilot plan
“Do sh**t that doesn’t scale” playbook
- Field time: watch users on-site, observe workarounds (WhatsApp/Calendars/Spreadsheets)
- Small niche events beat big tech expos early; be the only tech vendor in the room
- Social proof in public: selfies, case snippets, quotes; fuel future outreach
Building pipeline fast (cheap → free)
- Scrape public directories (e.g., Yellow Pages), call manually, log in a spreadsheet or HubSpot Free
- Facebook/industry groups for early conversations
- Avoid over-automating before message–market fit; optimize time-to-conversation
Prospecting fundamentals
- Goal is interest (opens/clicks/replies), not a PhD thesis
- Problem-centric > product-centric; be the trusted guide for a known pain
- Multi-touch reality: expect 7–17 touches across channels
Cold outreach structure (5 lines)
- Casual personalization
- Meaningful reason for outreach (public signal)
- Observational insight
- Tie to pain/outcome
- Simple CTA (short call next week?)
Example (B2B aged care) Subject: Resident engagement program challenges Hi Jill—Sean here from Mint. I saw in your FY report you led resident engagement and flagged family comms as a burning issue. We help providers centralize comms + feedback so families stop flooding frontline staff. If relevant, how’s next week for a short call?
Tips
- One-tight screen on mobile
- Cite public info or aggregated insights from your own interviews
- Don’t paste recycled LinkedIn “templates” (spam risk and brand damage)
- Use HubSpot Free for open/click tracking
Calendly etiquette
- Offer 2–3 time windows first; include link only as fallback
- On LinkedIn DMs, avoid starting with a link (bad UX); segue to email for scheduling
Qualify early; choose the right segment
- SMB vs mid-market vs enterprise: balance quick wins with long sales cycles
- Ask in discovery: last software bought, cycle time, stakeholders, security requirements
- Aim for 5 highly similar meetings to sense early repeatability (ICP clarity)
Pilots and pricing
- Run 2–3 tightly scoped free pilots if maturity is low; define:
- Duration (e.g., 30–45 days), success criteria, check-ins, value exchange (testimonial/data/quote)
- Move to paid pilots ASAP; show a pathway to full rollout
- Keep a “pilot pack” ready: outcomes, plan, stakeholders, comms cadence
Competitor story that resonates
- Map direct, replacements (spreadsheets/WhatsApp/Calendar), and “do nothing”
- Tell the migration story customers already live (e.g., “moving from spreadsheets + WhatsApp to X”)
- Use competitor awareness to position, not obsess
Social selling (B2B)
- Connect aggressively with ICP; target ≥25% of network as buyers so posts reach them
- Content + DM combo beats either alone
- Events, booths, associations = credibility and lead-ins if low/no-cost
Jargon playbook
- Collect acronyms/terms per industry (e.g., ATS, subs, “on site”) to sound native and build trust
Objection handling (pricing example)
- Clarify and isolate: “Apart from price, anything else holding you back?”
- Diagnose value gap: “Which part doesn’t feel worth it—outcomes, scope, risk?”
- Compare: “Compared to what?”
- Solve the constraint (e.g., payment plan), or walk away if it breaks your floor
Schools/healthcare nuances (long cycles)
- Use “asking for help” cold-call opener; localize; route to the right owner; earn champion first
- Conferences/associations work well; structure pilots with clear value exchange
- Expect approvals and budget gates; guide the steps for them
Partnerships (early caution)
- Heavy lift: legal, co-marketing, process, incentives, SLAs
- Validate handoff points first; consider associations/newsletters before rev-share partnerships
- Don’t rely on partnerships for first 10 customers unless demand is obvious
What to track from day one
- Activity: calls, emails, DMs, meetings booked, meetings held
- Funnel: reply rate, meeting rate, pilot start rate, conversion to paid
- Qual insights: top pains, stakeholders, cycle length, objections
- Hygiene: % leads with next step + date (zero lead leakage)
2-week action plan
- ICP: Write 1-liner problem, triggers, current workaround
- Pipeline: 150 targeted accounts; 2 channels (e.g., email + phone), 6–8 touches max per account over 3–4 weeks
- Scripts: 3 cold emails + 1 call opener tailored to pains; pilot one LinkedIn post/week
- Meetings: Book 10–15 discovery/demos; document agenda and follow-up pack
- Pilot: Define a 30–45 day pilot template; line up 2 candidates
- Systemize: Save info pack, demo agenda, reminder sequence; log insights weekly
Useful snippets
Cold call opener (asking for help) “Hey, it’s Sean in Sydney—hoping you could help me. I’m speaking with inner-city schools about robotics-assisted learning. Who’s best to talk to about trials?”
Pilot success criteria (example)
- Outcome: 70% of target users complete [core action] weekly
- Ops: <2 support tickets/user/month; time-to-value <7 days
- Business: Champion + decision maker agree on next step before end date
Follow-up skeleton (after demo)
- Recap 3 pains + agreed outcomes
- Pilot plan draft + timeline + roles
- 2 time options for next step; attach 1-pager
Resources Sean offered to share
- Slide deck
- Paid pilot contract template (6-week example)
- Cold email frameworks and discovery agenda
Key takeaway Ship conversations, not just code. Talk to customers today, codify what works, and turn your unscalable hustle into the first version of a repeatable sales engine.