>We developped an application for a vertical market.
>
>There's an already established competition in that market. Though we know that our application is better than theirs <g>.
>
>What should we do to become succesfull with our product?
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>What would be the best strategies?
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>Every comment is welcome.

Denis;


Excellent advise from Craig! Another consideration is marketing. How do you market a product? This is a very interesting topic specifically for a vertical market application.

A friend and fellow developer of mine makes his living having created a vertical market application. We were both electronics engineers and his application is aimed at the electronics manufacturing industry. He provides service and updates to his clients. He also has a bank of computers to emulate the operating system and environment of his major customers. He does this in part with computers with removable hard disks.

Most of his clients use NT and a very few use Novel. If a client has a problem the system in use can be closely emulated to help resolve problems. It only takes a few moments to set up a system like the clients. Each clients system is defined and a hard disk is numbered which references a specific client or clients.

The concept of what I am about to relate hopefully will have some value. When this conversation occurred with my friend (1995), Egghead Software and Fry’s Electronics were major players in the software world in my area.

Egghead Software required a payment of $125,000 up front for you to have shelf space to sell your product. Fry’s was a bit more expensive but not by much.

Examine your market. How can you communicate with businesses that potentially would profit by using your application? Trade magazines and newspapers? Conventions? Be innovative and consider how many different approaches you can take to “get the word out”.

Another person I met 11 years ago with a vertical market application would send out hundreds of faxes each night to potential clients. I believe such action today is illegal in this country. You could obtain a list of potential clients and offer a mailing of your product. Another way is to have a sales person go out into the field and sell product.

If you are comfortable with your marketing strategy then that is great. Always review how well you are doing and adjust as required.

I have seen all these methods work to one degree or another. Personally, I saw the sales person concept work the best for a small business. Know your audience, do not irritate them with bombardments of sales literature wanted or not, and put yourself in the clients shoes. Some sales persons can destroy a possible sale if high pressure tactics are employed.

Tom