Grit

CRO Cockroach Labs, Jeff Miller: Building an Effective Open Source Go to Market Strategy

Aug 24, 2020

35:35

In a study from Red Hat, 95 percent of respondents said open source was strategically important to their organization, while 77 percent agreed that open source will continue to grow. Yet, that doesn’t guarantee an easy sell. Selling open source software at the enterprise level requires an entirely different strategy than traditional software. For insight, we turned to open source sales expert Jeff Miller.

Joubin and Jeff discuss two topics, including Jeff’s career journey, and how open source sales teams can build and execute effective go to market strategies.

This conversation covers:

Jeff’s early experiences in sales, where he cut his teeth selling long distance service door to door — learning how to handle rejection and building an aggressive work ethic.
How Jeff made the leap into software sales, where he learned the meaning of software and how to approach customers and sell them solutions that help solve problems. Jeff also explains what motivated him to move into enterprise software.
The value of having a strong mentor, and how it can open doors to greater opportunities.
The key difference between open source and open core computing, and how it changes the sales process.
The challenge of building an open source go to market strategy, when there is virtually no control over the sales cycle.
Why open source software requires a tight marriage between marketing and sales.
The critical role that education and documentation play in the sales process, in addition to having an inside SDR/ LDR team to work with the customer, identify new use cases, and guide the customer in their journey.
How good, qualified leads can make all the difference, and make sales associates far more effective.
Viewing developers are influencers, not decision makers when making open source sales.
WhyJeff loves working with early stage startups, where you can make a huge impact fast without dealing with a lot of the red tape that comes with larger organizations.
Key metrics that Jeff looks for when qualifying early stage startup opportunities, where there is a lot of risk

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