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Software sales agents - do they exist?

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  • 25-07-2006 11:48am
    #1
    professore
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,857 ✭✭✭


    I run a small software / web development company. Over the past few years we have developed a few products running in real businesses with market potential. However you need contacts to sell them in any volume. My question is are there independent software agents out there in various sectors who would resell for a commission?

    Just a thought.


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    #2
    fatboypee
    Registered Users Posts: 958 ✭✭✭fatboypee


    Not sure there are independent software Agents per-say, just a few notes from my experience really..

    I work for a company who get most of their business through what they call a distributor, the market we work in is reasonably specific (though I've been trying to broaden their horizons). We present our product suite to the distributor and provide full demonstrations & install into their labs etc. They then then take on the presales & their engineers take on the installation & Maintenance. This works for us as we are in a specific area, it costs upwards of 35% of the total product cost of course (which most we offset in our sales price ;) )


    I think however that it depends on what you're trying to sell. If you are in a position where you can package your application into a one-click installation and then sell support, perhaps beefing your website for ordering and ensure people can find you on google etc is a good plan, along with looking into companies such as http://www.componentsource.com who provide a myriad of applications & components for sale & Download. Alternatively there are a few larger IT companies around where I am and there must be alot more in Dublin that would act as a reseller/distributor for you, you know the types, the ones that have 3rd party app support & network support for other companies. We have a few of them here that are our distributors too.

    From an independent perspective we do find that getting an existing client to act as a reference site for us works incredibly well.

    If your applications are essentially bigger than that or require tailloring & configuration then you need to look deeper into whether you are a software provider of products or services and work out a marketing strategy based upon that.....


    Hope some of this helps..

    Fatboy.


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    #3
    hcole
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2 ✭hcole


    There certainly are plenty of agents, depends on what you are looking for. Most small (and even some medium) IT companies will resell for you if the product is reputable and the commission structure fair. I used to work for one such company and came across many others in my line of work. The key is to establish contact with companies who can complement your product, not compete with it (although you probably already know that!). Any IT company thet does administration/networking is a good start. companies that write custom software are good too. They can sell you package and offer the client custom add-ons. Basically any small-medium company in IT is a good place to start.


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