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MenuHow can a small offshore development company find companies/software sales people to sell their service in the US/UK?
Being skilled at analytics, product development and inspiring people I am not that good at sales. I have a great software developers team, proven track record and passion to do what we love. It's a small focused team and we can't afford a full-time sales person in US. Odesk and Elance are more about extremely low-cost and short-term projects - we bring real value and have higer rates than Indian devs. How can I find a long-term commitment?
Answers
My company does a lot of consulting with offshore firms who are looking for a way to generate new business, so I hear this question a lot.
My first reaction is that you need to totally reverse your mindset when you talk about your own company. You mentioned that you have:
a great software developers team, proven track record, passion, real value
But, everyone says that. There a 10,000 companies that have those things, so a customer isn't going to notice it. You need to figure out what your company is best at (doesn't have to be technical) and present it as a solution to a specific problem that clients have.
Maybe a speciality, or really good project management, really good communications, a special expertise or experience, a personality, experience with a certain type of client.. really anything.. But, there must be some thing that makes your company 'special' otherwise you will be lost in the mix.
Don't worry about things like rates, or the fact that you have 'great' developers. Those are generic. Think about why a client would really choose you, and try to build on that! After you understand your company identity, it gets much easier to identify and engage marketing channels because you understand your target.
I've worked through Odesk and Elance for almost 3 years, for last 9 months I'm working as full time freelancer. A few weeks ago, I found a client who
I consulted to Halcyon Mobile, a great team in Romania who wanted to attack the UK market.
For them we discussed how to get onto sub-contracting lists for marketing agencies. These guys regularly give out work. It's a tough slog but the job broadly consists of
1 - getting known. How to get yourself in front of the audience. We recommend research interviews to deliver a publicity-friendly report on a key aspect of the industry that demonstrates your expertise
2 - build out your database by promoting the report, preferably giving away copies to people who share their contact details with you
3 - have an awesome telephone follow up service who is a native English speaker to stay in touch with the decision makers.
4 - continue to build your profile on your own website and Linked In. Be active on the industry trade newspapers (buy a subscription and comment on articles), join professional groups e.g. the British Interactive Media Association http://www.bima.co.uk/
5 - innovate - be the conduit that brings new information, tools and techniques to these audiences so they get to know you as experts not also-rans.
There you go - a template for a new business development process for your business. Get in touch if you'd like detail developed that sets you apart from the masses.
Build a strong lead generation and sales.
● Outbound marketing like b2b inquiries to potential clients via LinkedIn (active sales) is your key tool to start a conversation.
● Inbound marketing has a supporting function: write articles, give free advices and participate in conferences as speaker. Could be also free or paid trainings to attract attention.
● Sell your expertise, not the hours. Promote key employees (service providers in your company) via video, posts and photos on your website.
Thinks about your unique trade proposal. What differs you from the other thousands of similar companies?
As an example: I noticed that outsourcing companies are very slow in quotes and feedbacks so we made a key focus on fast replies for one of my clients, so it was a successful strategy.
Read more about sales strategy in my blog here: https://medium.com/@ganja_agency/key-factors-of-successful-b2b-sales-for-a-small-it-company-8fc9bcbb690b#.b2m2ydbfk
With high cases of Covid-19 in US with over 200,000 death and with surging cases in UK I will not advice you to physically go there are begin hiring. What you can do is download a recruitment software in your machine and work from home using Zoom calls. These are some notable software that might help you:
1. Job Aggregators: Job boards and job aggregators are central to the recruiting ecosystem because direct applicants make up 48% of all hires.
1. Indeed, with its resume database of 100 million strong, is the biggest source of external hires by far. In 2017, it was credited with an incredible 72% of interviews and 65% of hires in the US.
2. CareerBuilder is the second biggest source of external hires according to industry surveys. Well-known for their recruiter and job seeker surveys, CareerBuilder was sold to a private equity firm this year. How this will affect, if at all, its business model remains to be seen.
3. Google For Jobs, designed to be a direct competitor to Indeed, may prove to be a game changer. It recently added four new features: accessing salary information, applying location filters, bookmarking saved jobs, and selecting which job board applicants job seekers want to use to apply.
2. Testing & Assessment: According to Aberdeen, 57% of companies use pre-hire assessments to test the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other qualifications (KSAOs) of their candidates so vendors in this space are in high demand.
1. HackerRank creates coding and technical assessments to help recruiters assess the skills of developers and software engineers. It also offers an online interviewing tool.
2. Pymetrics state they use bias-free algorithms to match candidates using gamified neuroscience tests. Relatively new to the game, they’re already making a name for themselves as a part of Unilever’s overhauled digital recruitment process.
3. Self-Management Group is one of the most science-based assessments on the market with over 35 years of data. Available in more than 40 languages, one of their strengths is the very hard-to-do accurate sales profiling.
3. AI & Automation: Over 66 percent of CEOs believe cognitive computing can drive significant value in HR. The competing demands of increased hiring volume and decreased recruiter headcount, AI and automation tools will continue to be a top recruiting software category in 2020.
1. Ideal uses AI to screen and shortlist candidates by analysing rich candidate information such as resumes, assessments, conversations and performance data. A bonus benefit is that it works within your existing ATS eliminating the need to learn a whole new software.
2. Textio tackles a problem that virtually everyone in recruiting agrees is a problem: badly written job postings. A main feature it promotes is the ability to identify biased language and then suggesting alternatives to use instead.
3. Zoom.ai wants to “improve and simplify the employee experience” through its automated assistant software. Its features include scheduling meetings, transcribing calls, and creating departmental knowledge bases.
4. Applicant Tracking Systems: With 90% of large companies and 68% of SMBs estimated to use an ATS, applicant tracking systems is the biggest category of recruiting software. 2019 saw a lot of ATS migration as employers continue to search for their best fit. According to OnGig, the most common ATS systems that employers migrate to are Greenhouse Software, Workday, Taleo and iCIMS.
1. Bullhorn, which functions as both an ATS and CRM, is software designed specifically for recruiting and staffing agencies.
2. Greenhouse, the fastest growing ATS by market share in 2017 according to Ongig, is known for its structured hiring and interviewing approach.
3. SAP SuccessFactors was born when SuccessFactors was acquired by SAP America in 2011. While technically a full human capital management (HCM) software, it’s the 3rd most popular ATS among the Fortune 500.
4. iCIMS, the second biggest ATS by market share according to Datanyze, is a content generating machine. Fun fact: iCIMS is an acronym that stands for Internet Collaborative Information Management Systems.
5. Jobvite, another hybrid ATS and CRM, is #7 in market share and is known for its annual Recruiter Nation survey.
6. Lever, a San Francisco startup, is making a name for its focus on diversity and metric-based recruiting.
7. SmartRecruiters Featuring large customers like Visa, Skechers, Kelly Services, Equinox, and Alcoa, SmartRecruiters focuses on both candidate and recruiter experience.
8. Breezy HR is an applicant tracking system that allows all companies to create a powerfully, simple hiring experience which, in 2018, grew its user base by more than 150 percent, revenue 230 percent, with over 70,000 jobs posted.
9. JazzHR With a relatively low subscription cost, JazzHR is often a great fit for smaller businesses and startups. JazzHR is also the creator of Crowd, an integrated crowd-sourcing, big-data and predictive analytics initiative.
10. Workable claims they are the only ATS with built-in candidate sourcing. “Our tools scan millions of online profiles and multiple data sources to find candidates who match the skills and location of your job.”
11. Taleo, acquired by Oracle for $1.9 billion in 2012, is the leading recruiting software in the ATS category with 23% of market share according to Datanyze.
12. Workday was named the leading vendor in Gartner’s 2018 Magic Quadrant for Cloud HCM Suites Mid-market and Large Enterprises. According to Ongig, it was one of the fastest growing ATSs by % growth in 2018.
5. Recruitment CRMs: With the rise of recruitment marketing, candidate relationship management (CRM) software has become central for attracting, engaging, and nurturing candidates.
1. SmashFly is one of the strongest CRMs in terms of content marketing. Its software helps companies maintain a consistent employer brand starting with a company’s career site.
2. Yello received their latest round of funding to the tune of $31 million in June 2017. Some of its features include schedule automation, video interviewing, employee referrals, and integrations with ATSs and HRISs.
3. Avature Founded by Dimitri Boylan, co-founder and former CEO of HotJobs.com, Avature is a highly flexible enterprise SaaS platform for Global Talent Acquisition. Avature has over 650 customers of which 110 are Fortune 500 organizations.
4. Talemetry’s recruitment marketing platform features five “high-performance” products that can be used alone or in combination. As a leader in results-driven recruitment marketing, Talemetry’s customers include CDW and Yale New Haven Health.
5. Beamery The London-based startup closed a $28M Series B funding round, led by EQT Ventures in June 2018. Beamery offers self-styled recruitment marketing software targeted at fast-growing companies.
6. Ascendify – Built for global organizations and headquartered in San Francisco, Ascendify’s customers include GE, Panasonic and Disney. Ascendify integrates machine learning and predictive analytics into recruiting and talent development.
7. Jibe‘s Recruiting Cloud hosts a suite of features including personalized career sites powered, a fully integrated CRM featuring two-sided matching, enhanced SEO capabilities, source to hire analytics and automated recruiting tools for sourcing, nurturing and marketing.
6. Video Interviewing: With a recent survey finding 63% of HR managers having conducted an online interview, video interviewing software is becoming an important part of the recruiting tech stack.
1. ConveyIQ, in addition to video interviews, includes features such as email, text messaging, and interview scheduling. Its notable customers include The New York Times, Airbnb, and Zappos.
2. HireVue has received an eye-opening $93 million in funding to date. One if its differentiators is incorporating Industrial-Organizational Psychology in its pre-hire assessments and interview analyses.
3. Spark Hire is a popular video interviewing software with over 5000 customers. It touts its affordable solution that scales from sole proprietors to enterprises.
4. Wepow offers features such as mobile and online interviewing, white-label employer branding, multiple languages, and 24/7 customer support. Its customers include The Golden State Warriors, Adidas, and Heineken.
5. VidCruiter specializes in video interviewing software, but also offers other recruitment solutions such as digital structured interviews, automated reference checking, and more. Major clients include the United Nations, Samsung, Canon and the Atlanta Hawks.
7. Human Capital Management Software:
1. BambooHR offers a self-service portal for new employees. As an HCM geared towards SMBs, its other offerings include an ATS, payroll, and performance management.
2. Zenefits The team at Zenefits says, “The Zenefits People Platform brings everything HR into one radically simple, single app.” The platform is designed to be comprehensive without being overly complex. It puts benefits, payroll and HR access in the pockets and at the fingertips of employees.
3. Namely‘s slogan, “Let’s Build a Better Workplace” underpins their HR, Payroll, and Benefits platform. Namely says the software is something that employees actually use and is built to fit your company culture.
4. Ultimate Software is rated the #3 talent management software according to Capterra. Some of its features include a mobile app and using AI to suggest personalized actions.
5. OpenTute (not pictured) is an online platform for mobilizing your staff, learners, and clients with an enterprise social learning network. Customers say Opentute is helping their organizations to broaden their reach and effectiveness of communication with staff.
Once this is done you will have hordes of application of Salespeople to choose from to sell your products in US/UK.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
Long time commitment only comes with long term investment. I mean, almost everyone works for his or herself, and defend his/her interest.
Loyalty is earned when you are able to attract the people who believe in what you believe, who share similar values as your firm, and you are able to help them to understand where you (the firm) are coming from, where you currently are, and where you are going plus helping them to cleary see a future for themselves in that journey.
Finding the right partners to sell your offshore development services in the US or UK can be challenging, especially when you don’t have the budget for a full-time salesperson. One effective approach is to build relationships with business development networks or industry-specific groups that can connect you with potential clients. Additionally, you might consider leveraging platforms like LinkedIn to network with professionals in your target markets.
For more insights into navigating the offshore software development landscape, check out this article: https://www.cleveroad.com/blog/offshore-software-development/. It offers valuable information on how to effectively position your services and find long-term clients.
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