How to market our software house services to global customers?

[madoger]

I am working as marketing executive with a software house in Pakistan.
We are experienced in development of customized e-commerce softwares. Now we want to market our services to international clients so that they outsource their projects to our software house.
I would request you to suggest us some detailed marketing tools and techniques, how we can increase the number of our international clients.

[dubicki]

What does your product do?

[madoger]

We have been developing customized softwares for our clients since 1998. We have experienced in E-commerce application development. Now we want to get outsourced projects from international clients. I want to develop a marketing plan for marketing of our custom software development services to get outsourced projects but i don't know how to start working on a market plan. I still need good, professional advice on how to organize and develop a solid strategy in the end. I hope you can help!
Thanks

[dubicki]

Use the Search feature on this site.
You question has been asked many, many, many times before, along the lines of:
"We are a software consulting firm based in [India, Pakistan, Russia, China, Lituania, Bosnia, etc...] and would like to get business elsewhere. How do we do it?"
You will find your answer.

Here are the four things to keep in mind:
1. Services are sold and managed based on relationships.
2. Large companies tend to do business with large companies.
3. Small to medium-sized companies tend to look for resources in their geographic vicinity.
4. Larger companies and consulting firms require/expect some type of "infrastructure" in place to make offshoring work.

Why not just open an office in the country (countries) you expect to do business. Selliing and providing services is a relationship-based business, and if you plan to go international, you need to to have a presence where your potential customers are.

Good luck.

[madoger]

Mr dubicki!

Thanks for your concern.
I want to know is the possible ways and means to market.
I don't know much how we can contact the international clients sitting here in Pakistan. I would like you to suggest us some possible means to contact potential clients. Should we contact them through email or should we call them?
which one is better? If there is some better way to contact then kindly let us know.
Thanks

[dubicki]

I think you are missing a very important point I made. Read my points over again carefully... you will never gain international consulting business via email or phone. Its not enough. You need face-to-face. You will be wasting your time and money.

How will you build relationships at a distance? How do you deliver services over a distance?
By you asking: Which is better .... email or phone, tells me that you have not really put much thought into the reality of doing business beyond your borders.

Search through the threads here for keywords "outsourcing" and "offshoring". This will familiarize you with the many issues related to building offshore business.

[Judy Schramm]

Please do read the forums - we have had lots of excellent discussions about this exact topic.

If you have a solid base of satisfied clients in Pakistan, a good way to start going international would be to contact those clients and ask if they know of anyone overseas who might be interested in using your services. See if you can get some referrals.

This is a lot more complicated than just marketing, by the way. You'll need to develop a whole new set of processes and procedures for dealing with remote clients.

[madoger]

You will never gain international consulting business via email or phone. Its not enough. You need face-to-face. You will be wasting your time and money.



Dear Mr dubicki!
Thanks for your advices.
But the problem is that we have started a small software house with relatively low capital and we cant afford opening a new office in some other country or appointing some one for face to face meeting. So i would request you to propose us how we can do all this sitting here in our country?

Thanks

[Judy Schramm]

I thought you said you had been in business for 9 years? After nine years I would think you would have a certain level of satisfied clients and ongoing revenue that would help fund expansion.

If the referrals idea I suggested earlier isn't going to work for you, the way to do this on a tight budget is to sit everyone in the company down in one room (or at least the management team) and brainstorm about two things:
1. Who you know who might have a relative or friend overseas who could start your sales effort.
2. Who you know who might know someone in a company overseas who might need your services.

You have to start somewhere. Assuming there is no budget for a sales office or serious marketing efforts, you'll have to do it by leveraging your connections.

The other thing you could try is to spend some time surfing the web looking for companies that seem like good candidates for your services. Try to get about 100 of them. Then contact those companies individually, with a personalized email or phone call that explains why you think they could use your services. Try to begin a dialog with them. See what they are trying to accomplish, share your expertise, see if you can help. Over time, if you are truly helpful and persistent and good at what you do, you will get some clients.

[Dave45000]

Companies tend to stay local until they run out of market. You will need to create a local reputation, regional reputation, national, and then international. You might decide to be the preferred outsourcer for Podunk, Indiana and grow from there.

Learn to sell locally, and then reach. Learn to sell into one vertical, then branch out to other verticals. You might find that one vertical is sufficent for your revenue goals.

To be a face, you have to there.