Coursecast · How to Sell
How to Sell
Selling is not convincing. Selling is helping. And if you want to start a business, it is the first thing to learn.
- In English
- 10 modules
Why sales
Want to start a business? Learn to sell first
Sales should be taught in schools, in universities and in business schools. It is not. Everybody in the startup world talks about product market fit, and yes, it matters. But before you even get there, if you are serious about starting a business, learn to sell. It is the single most important skill founders and wannabe founders ignore.
And sales is not only about customers. Your prospects can be customers, employees, vendors, partners and investors. Any time you need someone to move in the direction you want to go, you are selling.
Most people hate the idea because they think selling means convincing. It does not. Selling is helping. When the person across the table sees you as someone who is helping them, there is no sales resistance. They stop getting annoyed by your follow-up calls and start appreciating them.
This is what I have done for 18 years: countless cold calls, countless follow-ups, countless proposals and countless negotiations. I built a company’s India market from scratch on it, and I still sell in my own businesses every week. This Coursecast is that experience, with the questions people actually ask answered on tape.
The three fears
What looks like a sales problem is usually a belief about selling that nobody ever corrected
Three of them stop most people from ever picking up the phone
Rejection
The fear of hearing no. You have to be prepared for rejection and for embarrassment. Learn to get embarrassed, and the no stops landing so hard.
Desperation
The belief that selling means pushing. It is the opposite. Selling is like dating: nobody wants the person who is desperate. Believe you are the best at what you do, and it shows.
Not a sales person
The belief that sellers are born. Nobody taught you this in school. That makes it a skill you have not learnt yet, not one you do not have.
If you want to really ace sales, stop selling. Start conversing
The curriculum
From the first call to the follow-up
Research, the first meeting, cold calls, the price objection, discounts, follow-up and managing clients, in the order you meet them on a real deal
01What sales is, and research first
- What sales actually is, and why it starts long before the first call.
- How to research a prospect so the first conversation is about them, not you.
02Getting the first meeting
- The research checklist, from the market as a whole to your differentiators.
- What it takes to get a busy prospect to give you the first meeting.
03Cold calling
- The must-dos of a cold call.
- A mock cold call, played out as a role-play, so you hear how it actually sounds.
04Pre-meeting research: a real example
- Preparing for a first client meeting, worked through on a real example: a real-estate builder.
05Founder-led sales: the first customer
- Why the founder has to be the first salesperson.
- Winning the first customer, told through a real case.
06Pitching one customer and the price objection
- Proving to a customer that what you charge is worth it.
- Can anyone sell any product?
- Your first customer came free. How do you win the second?
- When to reveal the price.
07Pipeline, competition and discounts
- A hundred calls a day, and how big your market really is.
- Competing: do you have to be cheaper, or better?
- Why every call ends in a discount, and whether to quote high and then come down.
08Managing clients and scaling the team
- Setting expectations and showing a client the return.
- What to do when you mess up, and where your responsibility ends.
- Scaling the sales team, and whether AI will replace salespeople.
09Culture and getting prospects to talk
- How culture shapes the way a prospect talks to you.
- Getting a prospect to open up, played out as a role-play.
10Follow-up
- A proposal went out today. When do you follow up?
- Following up so that people appreciate it instead of ignoring you.
Why this one
Why I make the extra time to teach sales
Why sales, and why from you?
I have been selling for 18 years, and sales is the one skill I see founders avoid the most. It should be taught in schools, and it is not. I make the extra time for this because the day you learn to sell, every other part of the business gets easier.
What is a Coursecast?
A course recorded as a conversation, the way a podcast is. My team asks the questions people actually ask. A proposal went out today, so when do I follow up? Why does every call end with a discount? Indians bargain, so should I overprice and then discount? I answer them the way I would on a real deal.
Then how is it different from a podcast?
A podcast wanders. This has an order. Research before the first meeting, then the meeting, the cold call, the pitch and the price objection, the pipeline, managing the client, and the follow-up. Some of it is played out as role-play, a mock cold call included, so you hear how it sounds and not just how it is described.
Will it give me a script?
No. Memorising your pitch and walking into a meeting will only give you mediocre results. Ask the right questions, drive the conversation as equals, not as a salesperson and a prospect, and the other person never builds up resistance to you.
Is this for founders or for salespeople?
Both. There is a module on founder-led sales and winning the first customer, and one on managing clients and scaling the team. If you are a founder who cannot sell yet, that is exactly who I made this for.
FAQs
Questions, answered plainly
Including the ones where the answer is no
Is anything added on top of the ₹799?
No. ₹799 is inclusive of all taxes, so ₹799 is exactly what leaves your account. No processing fee, nothing to pay later.
What exactly am I buying?
A recorded Coursecast on how to sell: a conversation between Shashank and his own team, not a lecture read at you. The module list on this page is the real list. It is recorded and finished, not a live cohort.
What language is it in?
English.
I have never sold anything. Is this too advanced?
No. It starts with what sales actually is, and with the research you do before you ever speak to anyone.
Is it live, or can I watch it whenever I want?
Recorded and finished. No fixed timings, no batch to keep up with. Watch it on your phone or a laptop, in pieces, as many times as you want.
How do I pay, and how do I get in?
Enroll now takes you to the checkout on the course platform. You pay and give your details there, land on a confirmation page, and log in with a one-time code on the mobile number you registered. No password.
Do I really get lifetime access?
Yes. One payment, no subscription, no renewal, no expiry date.
Can I get a refund if I don’t like it?
No, and we would rather say that plainly here than let you find out afterwards. The whole Coursecast is yours the moment you get access. The one exception is if we fail to deliver it to you at all. Read the module list and decide before you pay, not after.
Is there a certificate?
No. If a certificate is the thing you actually need, this is not the right purchase and you should keep your money.
The terms
What you get, and what you do not
Lifetime access
One payment. Yours to keep, with no subscription, no renewal and no expiry. If the course is updated later, you get the update at no extra cost.
Non-refundable
This is a digital course delivered in full on day one, so payment is non-refundable once access is sent.
One login, one person
Your access is for you. Sharing the login or re-uploading the videos anywhere ends the access without a refund.
No certificate, no placement
There is no certificate and no job guarantee. If that is what you need, this is not it, and you should not pay.
If something goes wrong
If your access has not arrived, write to us and we will fix it or return your money in full. That is the one case where a refund applies.
Enroll
How to Sell, ₹799
Coursecast · 10 modules · inclusive of all taxes · lifetime access. You pay on our course platform and get access straight away.
Checkout opens on our course platform
Selling is helping. Go and help someone this week, and ask for the business