Developers Don’t Want to Talk to Your Sales Team

Let’s be real. Developers don’t want to talk to sales.
‍

They don’t want to fill out forms.

They don’t want your ebook.

They definitely don’t want a “quick call to explore opportunities.”
‍

They just want to solve a problem. If your product helps, great. If not, they’re gone.

Your Website Is Your Sales Team

Developers test and buy without ever reaching out. So your site needs to do the work without hand-holding.

What that means:

• Clear structure – no vague explanations, just answers, and clear feature descriptions
• Fast access to docs – don’t hide them behind a login, or ask people to pay you extra for the knowledge base
• Straightforward positioning – what the tool does, who it’s for, what it solves

If you have a product owner or tech lead involved in the process (which you probably do), you also need to answer business questions:

Are you GDPR compliant? SOC2? Do you support SSO? Can we self-host?

Publish a security page. Link it to your docs. Make it easy for them to find all the answers they need on their own.

Write for Both Devs and Decision Makers

Developers might be the ones pushing for your tool, but they’re not always the ones who get the final say. That could be a PM, CTO, or even legal.

You need:

• Case studies that show business value (“we saved $1,000/month on hosting”)
• Comparison pages that explain why you’re better (or just more efficient)
• Clear pricing, avoid “contact us” pages without any numbers

If your product solves a performance issue, show the before/after.

I remember a case from AppSignal times, where a customer used our tool to spot performance issues. By reducing performance issues they managed to cut down their infrastructure costs 12X the price they were paying for AppSignal. Essentially, they saved up on the whole year of paying for the tool in the first month of using it.

That’s a type of a story that convinces decision-makers your tool is the right one for them.

Enterprise ≠ Just a Bigger Logo

Want to go upmarket? Then your product and positioning need to meet enterprise expectations. That means:

• Compliance
• Certifications
• Due diligence checklists
• Support for SLAs

Don’t say “we’re going after enterprise” if your product can’t support what those companies actually need. They’ll ask. And if you can’t answer, that deal is dead before it starts.

It’s not always about the features, it’s about how tight your in-house processes are.

You Don’t Always Need Sales, But When You Do…

If your docs are good, your trial is easy, and your site is clear, you probably don’t need a sales team for smaller or mid-size teams.

But if you’re selling to bigger companies, someone needs to handle those calls. And ideally, that person is technical, someone who can talk to a dev and not sound like a spreadsheet.

There’s a reason “sales developer” is a real job title now. Because developers trust developers. Another good example of this are PostHog people, all of them are hands-on and comfortable with code, regardless of the position they’re on.

TL;DR

Positioning is about clarity. Sales alignment is about not getting in the way.

• Don’t force people into a funnel
• Don’t make devs jump through hoops to try your product
• Answer real questions before they have to ask

If you get this right, you don’t need to “convince” anyone. They’ll convince themselves.

‍