Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Hi,

It would have been more helpful if you could have sent us the details of the functionality of the software.

Follow the approach

1. Identify market: According to the value creation of the software look out for markets who will actually interested. Its better to target 20 right companies that targeting 100 arbit companies. So be very clear about the cutomers/ companies you want to target.

2. Targeting the right market: There may be 2 to 3 types of markets, but here you have to either target all or some of them according to the effort you can put in. So initially you spend large amout of time - doing secondary research and qualitative inputs from people.

3. Value Proposition/ Positioning: Once you clear that you just want to target only a set of say 10 customers, prepare sales pitch with differentiating factors from your competitors if there exist any. And in sales be prepared for huge criticisim from the customer at every statement. SO you better be prepared with the relevant answers.

So out of these 15 days .. spend 2 days on point 1 & 2 and then go to the field for effective execution. I am sure you will get more than 2 customers.

Best of Luck

I confess that I do not know what "Arabitazing software" is, and a Google search didn't help me either...

... but if I had such a task, I would begin by talking with other sales or tech folk who have successfully sold the software, to try to learn from their experiences.

As a general rule, many enterprise software packages have long sales cycles... and many less expensive software products are sold using demonstration software - a typical demo runs out in a month or so, and so it would be tough to close a sale in 2 weeks.

In order to be more helpful, we need much more information. For example, does your company provide sales leads? Is there an existing pipeline of qualified prospects? Can you provide a link to your web site? Do you have product literature? Do you personally have sales experience, and in particular, software sales experience? Where are you located? Have you been directed to a particular target market? etc...

trustme...
I have over 28 years of experience in selling technical products to manufacturing and engineering businesses. The fifteen day thing puzzles me. But, not to worry. You can still do something. Here are a few things to think about.
1) what value does your customer get when he buys the product? This will not be a great software product, great service, hassle free returns, etc. It will be something like he will sell 100 more units of what ever he is doing for a living. Or, it will be less freight cost associated with his product. Or, less energy used, or something like that.
2) figure out who (what company) benefits most. This is critical.
3) figure out who is judged by their results.. of #1 within the organization.
4) start contacting those people like crazy. Dont talk the features of your product... talk about the benefits to the customer
5) when they dont buy, ask if your assumptions on #1 were correct. use their answer to inform yourself for the next call.
6) repeat steps 4 & 5 until you have more money than you can spend.
7) when you reach point 6 call me.....

or, contact me via my profile...

Frank Hurtte