You hit the nail on the head with the part of your question referencing trust. Sales and business development is really about getting the best/most efficient pathway towards building (or disqualifying) trust between buyer and seller. This is especially true in the services industry (and in my experience, definitely in the software world.) I've built and managed sales teams for several software firms (both SaaS platforms and completely built to spec application development services). At my development shop, Farshore Partners, we have people reach out to us through a myriad of channels (many find us through our blog posts/white papers which are highly ranked on Google.) While the volume and cadence of when these people come to us may change, the biggest difference I’ve found is how much time is needed to cultivate that trust with them.

Keyword searches are certainly the way a large number of people will initiate their search for finding the right development partner; but that step alone is very unlikely to be the only or even primary way they will select that partner. The same is true for searching for the company’s ratings and feedback on sites like Clutch (or even GlassDoor to see what their employees are saying). So being keyword relevant, or doing searches online as a starting point is very common, but is only a means to starting the process for people looking to hire software developers. Actually finding and securing a relationship with the “best” or “right” partner often includes many more steps along the way. Software development, like pretty much any other industry, is still strongly leveraged towards word of mouth and referral-based marketing. So if I was to be looking for a development partner (and I didn’t have my own shop at my disposal) I would start with asking my network of friends and associates first. Barring that, a Google search is always a great low barrier kick-off point.

If you’d like to discuss more about vetting or qualifying potential development partners, or any other items, feel free to reach out!