EDITED!
Consolidation of the chats that I had with some awesome entrepreneurs today.
Here is a list of points that all of you can use and even others, who want to
know:
1. Out of 30 odd entrepreneurs I talked to today, there were at least 12
software companies, in various domains.
2. Lead generation is a common pain.
3. Funding on not something that you need very much if you are planning to start
a service company and nor is someone just going to hand over it to you.
Here are solutions to begin with:
1. Define your USP! (Most important!)
ALL the firms in the WORLD say their services are good and they make customers
happy and we all know that that it's not very true. It's very cliched and if you
market only this as a USP, you may have a problem.
Try to give, try to help, try to hold a giveaway, focus a LOT on case studies
and testimonials, bring out something unique!
2. Strive to make partnerships.
Run a software company? Do websites? Try talking to marketing companies and
other bigger software companies to strike some kind of a partnership and show
them the leverage. And please note that they won't work like your sales people.
They will give you projects when they have them.
So, try to get a good number in the loop. Also, give them better than market
prices so that they can see the value.
3. Posting in groups and spamming people won't (usually) get you business,
especially not at a sustainable rate!
4. Fiverr and Freelancer are NOT dead. You may want to brush up your way to
approach clients there. And yes, Fiverr can give you bigger projects as well.
5. Finally, use targeted advertising to do lead generation. Organic lead
generation does exist but you can do it at a great speed using advertising.
PS: Please remember, you are not selling services to make money, you are selling
a solution, that helps a company out.
All the Best! Hope I was able to help, whatever little I could.
Peace!
Aayush.
Consolidation of the chats that I had with some awesome entrepreneurs today.
Here is a list of points that all of you can use and even others, who want to
know:
1. Out of 30 odd entrepreneurs I talked to today, there were at least 12
software companies, in various domains.
2. Lead generation is a common pain.
3. Funding on not something that you need very much if you are planning to start
a service company and nor is someone just going to hand over it to you.
Here are solutions to begin with:
1. Define your USP! (Most important!)
ALL the firms in the WORLD say their services are good and they make customers
happy and we all know that that it's not very true. It's very cliched and if you
market only this as a USP, you may have a problem.
Try to give, try to help, try to hold a giveaway, focus a LOT on case studies
and testimonials, bring out something unique!
2. Strive to make partnerships.
Run a software company? Do websites? Try talking to marketing companies and
other bigger software companies to strike some kind of a partnership and show
them the leverage. And please note that they won't work like your sales people.
They will give you projects when they have them.
So, try to get a good number in the loop. Also, give them better than market
prices so that they can see the value.
3. Posting in groups and spamming people won't (usually) get you business,
especially not at a sustainable rate!
4. Fiverr and Freelancer are NOT dead. You may want to brush up your way to
approach clients there. And yes, Fiverr can give you bigger projects as well.
5. Finally, use targeted advertising to do lead generation. Organic lead
generation does exist but you can do it at a great speed using advertising.
PS: Please remember, you are not selling services to make money, you are selling
a solution, that helps a company out.
All the Best! Hope I was able to help, whatever little I could.
Peace!
Aayush.