(Software Development)Tapping Into The Singaporean Market

[cogentbyte]

Hi All,

I have been lurking for several years now, in fact I couldn't use my old account anymore and had to create a new one. I have worked in Singapore for several years and have gone back to my home country about two years ago. I have started a small company that provides software(mobile apps, web, desktop apps) development as well as firmware/hardware development outsourcing/offshoring services. I would like to expand our market into Singapore however I'm not a marketing/sales person so I was wondering if I can get some advice here on how to go about this. Thanks for all the help.

[ecureilx]

Hi All,

I have been lurking for several years now, in fact I couldn't use my old account anymore and had to create a new one. I have worked in Singapore for several years and have gone back to my home country about two years ago. I have started a small company that provides software(mobile apps, web, desktop apps) development as well as firmware/hardware development outsourcing/offshoring services. I would like to expand our market into Singapore however I'm not a marketing/sales person so I was wondering if I can get some advice here on how to go about this. Thanks for all the help.

First question. Where is home country

Second question. Do you know anything about marketing and sales?

Third.. Not a question per se. You need to sell, sell, sell in Singapore

There is no other option other than hard sell.

[cogentbyte]

Hi All,

I have been lurking for several years now, in fact I couldn't use my old account anymore and had to create a new one. I have worked in Singapore for several years and have gone back to my home country about two years ago. I have started a small company that provides software(mobile apps, web, desktop apps) development as well as firmware/hardware development outsourcing/offshoring services. I would like to expand our market into Singapore however I'm not a marketing/sales person so I was wondering if I can get some advice here on how to go about this. Thanks for all the help.

First question. Where is home country

Second question. Do you know anything about marketing and sales?

Third.. Not a question per se. You need to sell, sell, sell in Singapore

There is no other option other than hard sell.

Hi, home country is Philippines. I don't have experience with marketing and sales. I agree to sell, sell, sell, but I'm looking for avenues on where to sell if I'm not currently in Singapore(i.e., is there like a b2b website in Singapore where we can post our services?, etc.).

[PNGMK]

Have you got the wherewithal to hire someone to do it?

[ecureilx]

[quote/]
Hi, home country is Philippines. I don't have experience with marketing and sales. I agree to sell, sell, sell, but I'm looking for avenues on where to sell if I'm not currently in Singapore(i.e., is there like a b2b website in Singapore where we can post our services?, etc.).[/quote]

There are sites but competition is tough. You may win the TOTO than get noticed enough to get good traction..

As I said, you gotta have boots on the ground and aggressive sales.

And / or sales who can clock 40 calls a day.

Good luck.

[cogentbyte]

Have you got the wherewithal to hire someone to do it?

At the moment, we are looking for a sales/marketing guy to market our services but we are only able to do commission based remuneration as we are still quite small.

[cogentbyte]

[quote/]

Hi, home country is Philippines. I don't have experience with marketing and sales. I agree to sell, sell, sell, but I'm looking for avenues on where to sell if I'm not currently in Singapore(i.e., is there like a b2b website in Singapore where we can post our services?, etc.).

There are sites but competition is tough. You may win the TOTO than get noticed enough to get good traction..

As I said, you gotta have boots on the ground and aggressive sales.

And / or sales who can clock 40 calls a day.

Good luck.[/quote]

We really hope we can get someone to do the sales over there. Thanks for the tip!

[ecureilx]

We really hope we can get someone to do the sales over there. Thanks for the tip!

You want staff ?

Sorry if I sound funny, but don't tell me you expect the candidates to drop by

How you gonna find this sales person?

You need a Singaporean or resident who can do your work and none are gonna work purely on commission basis.

Trust me on that

If anybody Agrees it's gonna be on low priority sales

Like a girl I know, who sells multi function printers and desktop support services and she's excellent

Closes 200k sales per month, or more

And if, and only if the customer is in a good mood after all, she goes, oh, by the way, would you be keen in this other product? Not our core product ...

No We don't have any brochures..

Oh, you don't have time?

Never mind.

(because there's no much incentive for this other product .. But requires lot of product knowledge .. )

PS, everyone starts small. But it's hard to make somebody work FOC. I have worked in a couple of start ups, or watched, so I know how much paying sales people good salary matters

I saw one that's going great due to sales, another up and down, when sales shift, and another that wound down when they went the purely commission based sale.. Because they thought the high commission will tempt anybody .. Not in Singapore

[Strong Eagle]

Who, or what kind of companies, are you identifying as your target market for your app development?

[cogentbyte]

Who, or what kind of companies, are you identifying as your target market for your app development?

We are basically targeting anyone who needs web/mobile presence as well as firmware/hardware development. We are very new and are still trying to add in to our portfolio. We do have a Singaporean client(a company that I have worked with before starting Cogentbyte) that can give testimonials to my work.

[cogentbyte]

We really hope we can get someone to do the sales over there. Thanks for the tip!

You want staff ?

Sorry if I sound funny, but don't tell me you expect the candidates to drop by

How you gonna find this sales person?

You need a Singaporean or resident who can do your work and none are gonna work purely on commission basis.

Trust me on that

If anybody Agrees it's gonna be on low priority sales

Like a girl I know, who sells multi function printers and desktop support services and she's excellent

Closes 200k sales per month, or more

And if, and only if the customer is in a good mood after all, she goes, oh, by the way, would you be keen in this other product? Not our core product ...

No We don't have any brochures..

Oh, you don't have time?

Never mind.

(because there's no much incentive for this other product .. But requires lot of product knowledge .. )

PS, everyone starts small. But it's hard to make somebody work FOC. I have worked in a couple of start ups, or watched, so I know how much paying sales people good salary matters

I saw one that's going great due to sales, another up and down, when sales shift, and another that wound down when they went the purely commission based sale.. Because they thought the high commission will tempt anybody .. Not in Singapore

I agree, unfortunately for now as we are just starting up we don't have the funds to get a salaried salesperson. So with this limitation, we are not really looking for a full time sales person, we are looking for someone that knows some company that needs our services and that person gets a percentage of the fee when we close the deal. Hopefully when we get to add more clients we can start setting aside a budget for hiring full time sales/marketing people.

[ecureilx]

I agree, unfortunately for now as we are just starting up we don't have the funds to get a salaried salesperson. So with this limitation, we are not really looking for a full time sales person, we are looking for someone that knows some company that needs our services and that person gets a percentage of the fee when we close the deal. Hopefully when we get to add more clients we can start setting aside a budget for hiring full time sales/marketing people.

Yeah

But if you are serious about your business you gotta have good sales Folks.

Anyway good in finding that no salary staff

Unless you target your kababayans domiciled here.. Just though in a MLM like commission scheme and you are all set

[Strong Eagle]

Who, or what kind of companies, are you identifying as your target market for your app development?

We are basically targeting anyone who needs web/mobile presence as well as firmware/hardware development. We are very new and are still trying to add in to our portfolio. We do have a Singaporean client(a company that I have worked with before starting Cogentbyte) that can give testimonials to my work.

"Anyone" is not a target. You will not succeed with "anyone" as the target. You must decided which segment of the market will be your specialty, then identify the companies you think would be interested, then identify the services you believe they would need from you.

Without such an approach, you have no way of creating your value add proposition. What will your five minute elevator speech sound like? "Gee, we can create anything for anybody?" No, I don't think so. Unless you can say something like, "We specialize in the creation of hardware level control software used by chip integrators in the next generation of smart appliances," or something like that, you are going to get nowhere at a high rate of speed.

You need to identify your target market... again, it's not "anyone"... there is no way you can succeed with such a broad, ill defined market segment. Imagine, for a moment, the guy that develops a new improved toothbrush. He thinks "everyone" will want to buy one. But, that's not the case at all. Only a certain segment of the population will buy his new toothbrush. People who are happy with their current toothbrush don't care. So, his target market is people who enjoy innovative products. Or maybe the toothbrush costs $50. So, his target market is further narrowed down to people who don't shop at the 5 cent store.

And if you can't identify which market segment you want to get into, it means you are in too much of a hurry. You need to do the research to identify where your possible matches with business entities (or the consumer market) would be and what sort of approach you would use to get your products and services in front of those matches.

Do you have a business plan? If not, you need one. Besides your target market, you need to know your competition, you need to develop your pricing structure, and you need to develop your sales plan, based on your marketing plan... sales and marketing are two completely different things.

And you're talking about selling when you can't yet identify exactly what you are selling and to whom you are selling it. "Everything" to "anyone" doesn't work.

That's my advice. Here's an outline of a business plan. You might not need all of it but you're going to want to think about most of it if you plan on succeeding. You may be able to pull off a startup without money, but you sure can't pull it off without a plan.

http://www.herberts.org/miscdocs/Sample ... ntents.pdf

[Singapurapura]

Do you have experience in automation MMI/HMI? If yes please PM me.

[cogentbyte]

Do you have experience in automation MMI/HMI? If yes please PM me.

Hi,

My PM seems to be stuck in the Outbox.

I have experience on user interfaces on printers like keypads and LCDs. I also have developed Windows based desktop applications for customized hardware, one I did for a company in Singapore. Can you give more details on what you need? Are the MMI/HMI you are looking for are for big machines?

I seldom visit the forum, you can email me directly at admin@cogentbyte.com for faster collaboration.