Selling tech, in New Zealand.
Practical writing for technical founders and small sales teams - pitch, pipeline, process, pricing and the people who run it. No theory you cannot use on Monday.
What a discount teaches your buyer
A discount does not just cost you margin, it tells your buyer your first number was not serious. The real arithmetic, and four things to trade before you touch price.
Why “you’re too expensive” is rarely about price
When a tech buyer pushes back on price, the problem is usually the order of the conversation, not the number. Here is how to fix the sequence.
You are still the only one who can close
Deals stall when you are not in the room. That is not a talent problem in your team - it is three things you have never taken out of your head.
Your pipeline is not a forecast
Feast and famine is not bad luck. It is what happens when your deal stages describe your activity instead of your buyer's decision.
Hiring your first salesperson too early
A salesperson cannot find your repeatable sale for you. Here are the signals that say you are ready, the ones that say you are outsourcing a problem, and what good looks like at this stage.
What a discovery call is actually for
Most founders demo. Discovery is arithmetic, not a product tour - and the number it produces has to belong to the buyer, not to you.
The CRM you are not using
Your CRM became a graveyard because it was set up to report on your team rather than help them. Here is the smallest version that earns its place.
Selling to New Zealand government and councils
Long cycles, opex versus capex, and why verbally committed is not signed. What actually moves a public-sector deal in New Zealand.
Your pitch is strong on the problem and weak on the product
The most common deck fault I see: the buyer reaches the end and still cannot say what it actually does. Here is how to fix the middle.
What to do when a big deal goes quiet
Silence is information, not rejection. The three messages worth sending when a deal stops replying, and the one that kills it.
Coaching a seller you cannot out-sell
You built the product, they know the process. Founders can still coach a better salesperson than themselves - by coaching the deal, not the technique.
Taking it beyond New Zealand?
Selling offshore is a different job - new buyers, new rules, and plenty that does not carry over from the home market. It is the work I love most, and it has its own home with its own library: market entry, choosing a first market, partners versus direct, and getting investment-ready.
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