It was couple years since I had started my software services company in Goa ( of all the places you would say ) and we were developing custom software for SME on just about everything from manufacturing , operations management, inventory management , website and all.
Projects didn’t pay much, especially in Goa coupled with the narrow minded thinking of the SME owners.
I desperately wanted to build a product with a subscription service (SAAS). The following steps recounts my journey of getting my first SAAS subscription client without actually having built the end product !
STEP 1 – Target the industry, domain, niche that you want to build your product for. I selected pharma as there were many pharma companies in Goa.
STEP 2 – Decide on the product offering. I selected CRM as this can be easily sold as a subscription service and is not required on premise and can be deployed on the internet .
STEP 3 – Pick your first 10 cold calling leads. I picked ones where I knew at least someone who could connect with someone within the lead company.
STEP 4 – Decide who is your end buyer or decision maker. Remember the golden rule – in enterprise money and budget for software comes from business and not from IT dept. Never make the mistake of pitching to the CIO /IT Dept first. Always pitch the decision maker. In my case it was the Head of Sales and Marketing.
STEP 5 – Somehow get your 10 min appointment with the decision maker. Plead with the secretary, or get a LinkedIn reference, or simply stalk him ( just kidding ).
STEP 6 – Now that you have your 10 min slot, showcase your product with a compelling pitch (PPT followed by product benefit and key feature demo) . We did not build the product, initially we just build clever screen prototypes that convinced them that we did indeed have a product.
STEP 7 – Now that you have created interest, never give a free POC ( something that the CIO / IT head shall insist on) . Instead give a limited time money back offer or free module upgrade offer or fixed subscription fee offer for first sign up.
STEP 8 – Get your PO with advance (6 month subscription fee adjusted against monthly billing ).
STEP 9 – Now that you’ve got your advance, build your product.
STEP 10 – Always under commit and over deliver. We agreed with our first client that we shall deliver first 4 modules in 12 weeks for UAT. We actually delivered 6 modules in 10 weeks.
Rest is history ! Happy Hunting !
Sandeep Verenkar
you can recah me at aneesh2811@gmail.com or @spvgoa