Practical tips for Selling
Software Development Services

Looking for some tips on how to increase your chances of getting more (or better) customers for your software development business?

Let’s say you’ve got potential customers (in the form of sales-ready leads) to try and sell to.

If that’s not the case and you’re looking for insights on the marketing side of things, check these out for starters:

• Marketing for custom software development services companies
• How to get clients for a software development company
• Content marketing for engineering companies
• How to make digital marketing less frustrating
• How to generate leads for software development projects
• Pros and cons of inbound marketing
• The problem with marketing plans for small B2B companies, and what to do instead
• Pros and cons of content marketing
• Account-based marketing vs inbound marketing
• Marketing strategy for launching a new service

Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re trying to sell your software services:

1. Engage only those that think they have a need
2. Understand the size of the business problem
3. Don’t be afraid to discuss budget early on
4. Adjust your approach based on who you’re talking to
5. Start from where your potential customer is at in their journey, not where you want them to be
6. Understand the predicted CLV
7. Be realistic about whether your company is a good fit or not
8. Follow-up quicker than you want to.

Engage only those that think they have a need

Some people think you can just find people within your target market and convince them to buy from you. I’m not one of those people. If you were selling lipstick or popsicles, I’d say okay, but you’re not. You’re selling expensive software services. A need is a pre-requisite. You’re generally not going to create a need that doesn’t exist. That doesn’t mean you can’t make someone aware of a problem they didn’t know they have, but if they disagree, move on.

So, if there’s no perceived need, don’t sell. It’s not that your company can’t engage with good fit people without an immediate need, it’s just that sales shouldn’t generally try to actively sell to those people (account-based engagement notwithstanding). Focus on engaging people that have a need.

Understand the size of the business problem

How big of a business problem do they actually have?

Some specifics will vary depending on whether this is software used for their internal operations vs a customer-facing product.

What is this problem costing them? Inefficiencies? Risks? Mistakes? Reputation?

What sorts of post-delivery support do they need?

How critical is this software to their business?

What’s their level of urgency? Is this in the critical path of a product release?

What other options do they have to solve the problem (e.g. do they have an internal team that’s just too busy?)?

Some problems can be challenging for companies to quantify. That can be ok. What you want to understand is: is this project important enough that it’s almost definitely moving forward at a reasonable price point? Or is it more of a wish-list item, or a “we need to get to that eventually” sort of item?

Don’t be afraid to discuss budget early on.

Is this well-funded or are they trying to do this on a shoestring?

If you’re not in the same ballpark, what’s the point?

Some people are afraid that talking about budget early on is off-putting. However, I think it’s even worse if you waste both your time and theirs because you weren’t operating in the same universe.

Discussing budget early can help you understand where the mismatch is. Maybe the problem isn’t as big as you thought. Maybe they were used to cutting corners or taking risks that you’re not willing to. Maybe they’re used to scope creep or change orders. Maybe the value you bring to the table isn’t worth it to them.

Whatever the reason, tactfully finding out early on what you’re working with can benefit everyone.

Adjust your approach based on who you’re talking to

You’re technical. Your customers may not be.

If they are (e.g. an IT manager), then by all means get technical when you’re selling.

If they aren’t, you shouldn’t be trying to sell them very deeply on your technical capabilities. It’s easy for you to focus on the technical aspects because it’s your comfort zone.

Don’t do it.

You need to focus on the business problem you’re solving for the customer.

Start from where they are

Start from where your potential customer’s head is and enable them to progress at their own pace. In other words, don’t try to push them into using your services before they’re ready. There are three main steps to be ready to facilitate their journey:

1. Learn as much as you can about them and their company before you talk to them.
2. Create as many questions as you can think of. Prioritize this list and reduce it to ~10-15 questions that are the most valuable to cover during your conversation. Keep in mind that this should be a conversation, not an interrogation.
3. Stop thinking about what you want out of them and truly listen to the potential customer’s responses. What do they really care about? What are their main objectives and concerns?

Pay attention to the predicted CLV

CLV (Customer Lifetime Value) is likely important for the sustainability of your business. You’re not selling to millions of people. You’re selling to relatively small numbers of companies, and if you look into those that account for the majority of your revenue over several years, that number is likely significantly smaller still. So, when you’re thinking about who to actively sell to, you want predicted CLV to be a significant factor in the equation.

If you’re being sophisticated about the overall health of your company, you’ll also want to include other factors like:

• market positioning,
• strategic value,
• and happiness quotient,

but predicted CLV will probably be the most heavily-weighted factor (or at least one of the top 2).

Be realistic about whether you’re a good fit or not

This is a tough one because it requires you to let go of ego and be confident and realistic about who you are (and aren’t), as a company.

Just because someone shows up at your door, interested in considering you, doesn’t mean you should let them in. Even if the opportunity appears attractive.

Capture your main criteria for fit. Try to make the criteria as objective as possible, recognizing that it’s okay to allow for some amount of human judgment. If you’ve got too many opportunities at any point in time, you can use fit to help prioritize where to spend your energy selling.

For each opportunity you need to uncover if there are factors that make you an obviously-above-average option for them. If you’re an average option for them, you need to either:

1. Keep digging to see if you can uncover something that makes you an above-average option, or
2. walk away and move on to the next opportunity.

Follow up quicker than you want to

There is a timing element to this. I appreciate that you’ve got other things going on in your world and it can be tough to be interrupted when you’re in a groove.

However, you really want to respond to someone that’s got a need on their mind ASAP.

That means generally you want to follow up within ~4 hours, and definitely within 24 hours.

That doesn’t mean you need to have a meeting within that time period. You just need to establish a connection with them and set expectations about when you can meet. This builds trust and gives you an opportunity to start establishing a relationship before someone else.

Next steps

If you’re using an inbound marketing approach, here’s some additional inbound sales tips for your first meeting.

If you’d like to chat about the marketing side of things, feel free to reach out for a chat.