Finding customers for software development company.

Dear readers,

Please help or teach me how to find customers for small software development company.

And please don't recommend freelance sites, since they are not a way to go for many reasons.

Also, generic recommendations, like "word of mouth", "friends", "business connections" are not solutions in my case.

Looking for new ideas.

Best regards,

 

You mention a lot of what you don’t want, but do not really come up with ideas of what you do want. For example, you can start your own website and blog from there – perhaps that might get people to pay attention to you. Post on social media about relevant issues, and I would love to know what you think the ‘many reasons’ are that you cannot be a part of freelance websites.

 

Dear Daley1,

Thank you for your reply. I told to not mention freelancing, because I have already tried that. Yes, it is profitable to some level, but you cannot build company on top of that.

Also, I do have website, blog, etc. You can see it here: http://dyamar.com

And I tried social media, still, it does not help me.

Best regards,

 

Well then maybe it's time to ask yourself where you are going wrong where others succeed.

If you have a good reputation on those freelancing websites, you want to take some of the clients with you, to take them to your website and start from there. That might be your way to go.

 

Hmm, still, it is not the case here I do have good feedback score on one of the major freelance sites. Better to say, I am in 1% of the most successful developers there. But company cannot be built on top of that.

Also, it is not legal to take clients away from freelance site.

My goal is a company, and I am looking for a way to find small/middle sized businesses that can order my services directly.

Best regards,

 

I suggest that you determine what software work you want to get paid for and then generate quite a few articles about those applications so that your prospective clients can find you on the web and see your authority. Social media will work well for you depending on the content of your site. You will have to present yourself very carefully and well in your articles so that people can see you as a person that they want to do business with. You will probably have to have some testimonials that are verifiable, especially to attract new clients. A content loaded newsletter directly related to your specialty will keep you in focus.

 

I think writing about the software in a blog or some kind of media forum will help get attention. Social media is another option along with videos demonstrating the software.

 

Isn't part of owning a company knowing and understanding your Customers and Market?

So here you are with a business...yet no plan? No idea how to obtain new customers?

1 Who do you target?
2 What type of software do you create?
3 What type of clients do you want?

If your answer to those 3 simple questions is "All" then you have a business that is about to go out of business.

Let's say your background is C#. The type of software you create is geared towards the Real Estate Industry. The type of clientele you want to obtain is Brokers and Agencies. You may want to seek out those types of clients by advertising in Magazines, Flyers, EZines, Web sites etc. that relate to your consumer.

If you have a software company that develops any kind of software for any kind of person you are left to only use the same methods of advertising as anyone else in the same shoes as you uses. Which is...search engines, word of mouth, craigslist, and business connections. All of which you don't want to hear about.

Before you go and shoot yourself in the face... sit down and come up with a business plan so you have a sense of direction to take your company in.

 

You can develop open source software, build community around them and sell solutions, technical support. Example of this way is Red Hat.

 

Do you have a site, portfolio, reviews from past clients, google+?
Are you local? or national ?
Have you ever worked on freelance websites?

PM me if you need more assistance over this.
Matt

 

Finding customers for software development company is just like conversions and it is not a short process that can give you an immediate results. This is an investment and it will take time to build trust from the customers.

 

Thank you all for the answers! There are some good ideas here.

 

That's gonna be hard for the competition you are i is very tough.

 

Yes, that is true, but the market is growing.

 

Kylie gave a good reply.....

I wonder if you thought of posting your area of expertise and accomplishments in this thread......

You already have a number of people intent on helping you....... they may have some suggestions once they know you a bit more.

Software development company is sorta vague..... if you were to write, I am a C++ programmer and my last job was to writ a high frequency trading program for the commodities manager at Goldman Sachs.. then a trader would want to talk with you....

Or, I am a Matlab guru that has developed many trading systems for university students working their way through school.

Or if you were to write, I am a programmer than can manage to increase traffic to your site by some extraterrestial means......... a lot of people in this forum would be wanting to discuss things.

Software Development means nothing to people.... try to give it life........ make it real for readers. Emphasize the benefits!!

I suggest that you revisit every one of your blog posts and examine how much of you the person is on each page and also.......... how much you are trying to benefit the readers.... and can they perceive that from your pages.....

 

DaveGmac, thank you very much for your feedback and for your time. Your post is very helpful.

Our area of expertise covers many technologies, but mostly we do web programming (Drupal, WordPress, Magento) and iOS/Android application development.

Best regards,

 

hi dyamar,

why don't you go the old fashioned way. Advertise in local newspaper, exposure is most important when building a company. You can target the local market.

I don't see your address in your website, if you want build your company have a legit address.

 

Get out to networking events. If you can find relationship based marketing groups it will take a few months of commitment before you see anything from it, but most small to mid sized business owners these days are back out there trying to grow their business the old fashioned way... Building and growing positive, lasting relationships with people. You know how older generations used to go to the same mechanic, grocery, seamstress etc for years and generations because there was a strong relationship that existed... the same is circling around to be true today. People want to do business with people they know and trust... so go be that person. Remember to save the sales pitch for a little later down the line.

 

You are right, there are many good IT conferences right now in most of countries, and that can be good place to participate and take action.

 

Two things.

First specialise in a domain and not simply a technology. If you specialise in a domain and do it well then recomendations are going to be more forthcoming and meaningful, advertising agencies are more likely to be talking to other advertising agencies about finding a developer who understands their business than one who understands a particular technology.

Secondly find someone to sell for you and make it worth their while. Pay a decent commission for someone to find you business, even (or especially) if they also sell software services for other companies. You can have different agents for different localities. If you're not comfortable with marketing, a common situation for tech types, then find someone who is.