Question

Topic: Strategy

Sales Route To Market For A Technology Company

Posted by Lawunmi.fashina on 1/12/2018 at 9:05 AM ET 250 Points
My company just launched a tech-based product and doesn't have a sales strategy except that we know that we should partner with other government agencies and large corporations and businesses.pls advice on other routes to market the product
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by mgoodman on 1/12/2018 at 12:15 PM Moderator
    This is backward. You started with a solution, and now you want to find the problem it solves. You should start by defining a target audience and understanding what it needs.

    Can you at least tell us who in the target audience might benefit from whatever it is you want to sell? Who is your main competition? What benefit can your customers expect when they buy what you are selling?
  • Posted by Lawunmi.fashina on 1/12/2018 at 12:31 PM Author
    Thanks, @mgoodman, actually we are selling to cooperatives and agencies that deal with these cooperatives alike.we have had active partnerships buts its just that we haven't reached our direct consumers which are the cooperatives, over 50,000 of them,b2b type of selling
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/12/2018 at 4:32 PM Member
    Have you conducted any informational interviews with the cooperatives to better understand their challenges and how your offering may address unmet needs they have? If you do several of these interviews, you'll likely better understand how to craft an appropriate sales strategy.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/12/2018 at 9:39 PM Member
    What's the product?
  • Posted by Lawunmi.fashina on 1/13/2018 at 5:47 AM Author
    @jayhamilton, yes we did at the product research and development stage,@Garyblooomer, its both an aggregator of cooperatives and a cooperative management system, something like a CRM of special functionalities for cooperatives and clubs
  • Posted by telemoxie on 1/14/2018 at 9:52 AM Accepted
    CRM systems, in my opinion, are notoriously difficult to sell.

    I like the idea of surveys, as described above. Not just something in the past tense, something that you used to do, but as something that you continue to do on an ongoing basis.

    If this were my company, I might try to select a few smaller customers, and have your most technical R&D guys visit. Better yet, put one of them on site, at no charge, for a month or two, so you can see how the product is actually used in the real world. Alternatively, you can offer the product for free to a local cooperative with the understanding that they will allow you to come on site to better understand how they use the product.

    I would also keep my ear to the ground, listening for pain, trying to identify other needs that people in your target market have, so that you can develop additional products and not be totally dependent on one that is so difficult to sell. Good luck.
  • Posted by dubois on 1/14/2018 at 5:38 PM Accepted
    Lawunmi, welcome to MarketingProfs! You just launched your product, so you need a small number of willing and patient customers to get you started. Ideally they will be close to home. There are online directories of cooperatives (Wikipedia even has two) where you could identify high-priority prospects.

    Then use direct selling to make connections and move them toward the close. You'll get your first paying customers and feedback (using the techniques telemoxie describes). Big companies will be more interested in partnering with you after you have these. Government agencies in the US are unlikely to be your sales channel.
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