Questions

Being skilled at analytics, product development and inspiring people I am not that good at sales. I have a great software developers team, proven track record and passion to do what we love. It's a small focused team and we can't afford a full-time sales person in US. Odesk and Elance are more about extremely low-cost and short-term projects - we bring real value and have higer rates than Indian devs. How can I find a long-term commitment?

My company does a lot of consulting with offshore firms who are looking for a way to generate new business, so I hear this question a lot.

My first reaction is that you need to totally reverse your mindset when you talk about your own company. You mentioned that you have:

a great software developers team, proven track record, passion, real value

But, everyone says that. There a 10,000 companies that have those things, so a customer isn't going to notice it. You need to figure out what your company is best at (doesn't have to be technical) and present it as a solution to a specific problem that clients have.

Maybe a speciality, or really good project management, really good communications, a special expertise or experience, a personality, experience with a certain type of client.. really anything.. But, there must be some thing that makes your company 'special' otherwise you will be lost in the mix.

Don't worry about things like rates, or the fact that you have 'great' developers. Those are generic. Think about why a client would really choose you, and try to build on that! After you understand your company identity, it gets much easier to identify and engage marketing channels because you understand your target.


Answered 10 years ago

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