Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Definitely draw on the work that has been done in the rest of the world. Get reference customers, have case studies written up, etc. using customers from other areas of the world that would help your case in this country.

Another way to benefit from the work in he rest of the world is to use the information in total. For example, Oracle (a big computer company) talks about how something like 5 of the 100 largest companies in the world use their product. You can do similar, talk about how x% of the oil companies in the world use your product (assuming a decent number do use your product).

Dear Rob

Which country and what kind of software? The country only affects the specific niceties of approach, but the type of software makes a big difference as to whom you pitch it to and how.

Is it Financial, Analytical, Risk Management, Geological, ERP or Process Related, to name but a few areas which apply?

If it is specifically designed for the oil industry, then generating press releases simultaneously in all the direct and related trade press is a must. Do not restrict your appeal to American Oil and Gas Reporter and its ilk; spread your coverage wider into the kinds of journals which oil executives read. A good starting point for this is RIGZONE;
https://www.rigzone.com/search/c/news/magazines_journals/
where you can find about 20 direct magazines and umpteen in related areas.

If your software is process related, then spread your efforts to cover the process and downstream journals and if it is exploration and upstream work, get your coverage in there and in the geological press.

The direct approach via telemarketing can also pay off. I once had to introduce some bursting disks into the oil and gas process market in the UK, so we set out to find out how well we were known in that market. The point was, this was not a survey for the sake of the statistics, nor was it a telesales job, hoping to gain appointments, presentations or sales. We wanted the contacts and an understanding of whether our type of product mattered to them. And of course we wanted to know if they’d heard of us.

That was followed by letters of introduction, information and only then, by a phone call to ask if we could visit the chief engineer to discuss the new product. We got an introduction to 67% of the companies we had identified and made about £2.3Million of new sales as a result over 12 months.

I doubt that the telemarketing would alone have carried the day. The point was that by the time the execs were being asked to see our sales people, they had seen a heck of a lot of our material in their trade press. If they hadn’t already enquired after the PR, the follow up call was made considerably easier by the preparatory work.

Hope to hear back from you in case there’s anything else relevant we can offer.

Steve Alker
Unimax Solutions

Testimonials... are great
Referalls are better...

Ask current users if they are willing to pass along any names of others in the same industry in your country. If possible, offer them something of value for introductions.

Frank Hurtte