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Cannot even get 1 meeting with potential customers

Itizn

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Quit and start over if you'd like.

You'll continue to run into the same obstacle until you commit to improving your outreach and prospecting strategies.

Basically every post in here was about that being the problem, not necessarily the product.
 
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Happyheart

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After having spent so much time and energy, you seen mo have lost the faith. Why not take up some of the ideas that were posted and include original screenshots like Andy suggested. It will either work or not, but you have to say you tried everything.
 
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zander1983

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Quit and start over if you'd like.

You'll continue to run into the same obstacle until you commit to improving your outreach and prospecting strategies.

Basically every post in here was about that being the problem, not necessarily the product.
Oh the product is definitely a major problem - it simply doesnt solve a big enough problem. I built it whilst turning a blind eye to sales/what the problem was.
 

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Based on the approach you've been taking for outreach, there's no way to know whether your product solves a big enough problem or not. You simply haven't been doing it right.

You need to first of all:

1. Figure out who your ideal client is
Would this really be "somebody in Digital Marketing"? How is digital marketing related to this? Would someone in digital marketing be making the decisions on dropping in your product? What does your ideal client actually care about? What problems are they having? If someone in digital marketing wanted more traffic, they'd just do the usual types of marketing.

2. Clarify your value proposition
How would dropping in your software even help to drive traffic? Is traffic even what they care about? Or is it something like more sales or customer happiness and higher lifetime value?
Businesses care about making money, saving money, and saving time. Where does your product fit into that?

3. Create a strong offer
"Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit" - It sounds like you're just leaving it up to them to figure out how you would help them. What are you actually proposing here? How would the collaboration work?

4. Stop pitching in your LinkedIn connection request
Build some rapport first. You can hint at how you can help, but you need to show you can provide value to them first. The only exception to this is if you have a very strong offer, which I don't see being the case here.

5. Actually personalise your outreach messages
The example you posted could just be copy and pasted to anyone in that industry. It needs to be so personalised that it couldn't be sent to anyone else in the world and make sense. This is even more important in small niches where you don't have a huge target market to burn through.

6. Test different call to actions
At the moment, you've just been asking them if they're interested. What other options could you try though? What value could you propose to them? Is there some kind of PDF or video you could share on your product? A free trial? A quick call where you would give them some kind of value?

7. Send. More. Messages.
I don't know how many people you've contacted so far, but it doesn't sound like a lot. You need to be doing high volume. If there's not a large market, then follow up with every person you contact on multiple channels. Send followup emails. Interact with their posts on LinkedIn. Cold call them. Send them a letter even.
 
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zander1983

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Hard for us to advise.

I’m still curious what your LinkedIn profile and last three posts look like.

Can you post screenshots, maybe with your name blurred out if you prefer.
Heres a screenshot. Now you mention it, I dont post anything on LinkedIn. An issue I have is I work fulltime and my CEO in the past commented negatively when I changed my title to CEO of [my app]

Below this is just my resume with the various different places Ive worked.

2022-06-25_20-32-41.png
 

zander1983

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Based on the approach you've been taking for outreach, there's no way to know whether your product solves a big enough problem or not. You simply haven't been doing it right.

You need to first of all:

1. Figure out who your ideal client is
Would this really be "somebody in Digital Marketing"? How is digital marketing related to this? Would someone in digital marketing be making the decisions on dropping in your product? What does your ideal client actually care about? What problems are they having? If someone in digital marketing wanted more traffic, they'd just do the usual types of marketing.

2. Clarify your value proposition
How would dropping in your software even help to drive traffic? Is traffic even what they care about? Or is it something like more sales or customer happiness and higher lifetime value?
Businesses care about making money, saving money, and saving time. Where does your product fit into that?

3. Create a strong offer
"Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit" - It sounds like you're just leaving it up to them to figure out how you would help them. What are you actually proposing here? How would the collaboration work?

4. Stop pitching in your LinkedIn connection request
Build some rapport first. You can hint at how you can help, but you need to show you can provide value to them first. The only exception to this is if you have a very strong offer, which I don't see being the case here.

5. Actually personalise your outreach messages
The example you posted could just be copy and pasted to anyone in that industry. It needs to be so personalised that it couldn't be sent to anyone else in the world and make sense. This is even more important in small niches where you don't have a huge target market to burn through.

6. Send. More. Messages.
I don't know how many people you've contacted so far, but it doesn't sound like a lot. You need to be doing high volume. If there's not a large market, then follow up with every person you contact on multiple channels. Send followup emails. Interact with their posts on LinkedIn. Cold call them. Send them a letter even.
Thanks, very thorough. You know what would give me the motivation? Making a sale. This has been live since 2018 with 5,000 or so signed up users. Guess how many upgraded? 0. Thats why Ive pivoted to B to B via a library integration. But this isnt a case of me giving up at the first hurdle, this has been going a long time (for a couple of years I just left it be, it worked away on its own). For my sanity, I believe it's time to move on.
 

Itizn

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Oh the product is definitely a major problem - it simply doesnt solve a big enough problem.
Then at the very least hear these words directly from your audience before you throw in the towel on something you admitted to spending so much time on.

Run another outreach campaign, except this time with zero intent to "sell", but rather to get qualified people to hear you and your product out.

Do this right and two very valuable things will happen:

1) You'll actually find out from your ideal users how effective or useful your product is.

2) You'll learn how to initiate dialogue (which means a channel of communication between more than just yourself, just a reminder) with a target audience. In case you do choose to move on, this skill will be there in your arsenal.

P.S. I had a very similar problem and mindset when I was starting out. This thread will detail it.


The difference is I didn't give up, but instead committed to addressing the very same issues you're having. Since that thread was made, I've sold >$100,000 of products (with millions more in the pipeline), expanded my business network to sixteen countries across six continents, learned how to properly reach out to anyone with any job title, and a bunch of other cool shit along the way.
 
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Miketing

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Thanks, very thorough. You know what would give me the motivation? Making a sale. This has been live since 2018 with 5,000 or so signed up users. Guess how many upgraded? 0. Thats why Ive pivoted to B to B via a library integration. But this isnt a case of me giving up at the first hurdle, this has been going a long time (for a couple of years I just left it be, it worked away on its own). For my sanity, I believe it's time to move on.

In the first post you made it sound like your problem was getting any kind of validation for your product. That's clearly not the problem then.

As you've already got validation from 5,000 people, it would actually be a much easier problem to solve.

Giving up after you've got validation sounds even more ridiculous to me. It sounds like you've made your mind up though.

Sorry for being blunt, but did you make this thread to actually get help because you want this to work? Or did you just want to vent about how hard it is and hope to get people to agree with you so that you can validate your decision to give up?
 

Andy Black

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2022-06-25_21-51-53.png

It's not clear who you help, what you help them with, and how you do it.

Let's say you cold messaged your ideal prospect, or they read something you posted, or they read a comment you wrote on a post by some thought leader they follow.

They'll likely check out your profile.

Would they *immediately* see you help people exactly like them to solve the problem they have that they want to get rid of?

Treat your profile like a landing page.

You've your banner/header area which you've left blank and which is a missed opportunity.

The photo looks good imo. Friendly and approachable.

The headline/title doesn't mention you've got 5,000 users signed up. Should you mention "Software Engineer and part-time farmer."? (Not saying not to. Maybe it helps let people know more about you as a person.)

Your About section should be more about them and less about you. Go into more detail about who you help, what you help them with, and how you do it.

People might spot your featured posts. What are they about? Are they related to what you do? Will they be intrigued, want to read them, and get some actionable tips while getting to know what you do?


Get your profile sorted, then maybe we can discuss who you're trying to reach out to.

Who do you help?

What do you help them with?

How do you do it?



For context, here's my work in progress. It's not perfect by any means, but I lead with "Google Ads Freelancer". That's enough imo for people to know what I do. (Note that I have Creator mode ON so my profile options are likely different from yours.)

Go create a swipe file of good profiles you come across that make it obvious what they do and who they help.

2022-06-25_21-49-47.png
2022-06-25_22-26-04.png


Here's my Featured section. I want to create a couple more articles to feature in here.

2022-06-25_22-03-34.png
 

Andy Black

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Based on the approach you've been taking for outreach, there's no way to know whether your product solves a big enough problem or not. You simply haven't been doing it right.

You need to first of all:

1. Figure out who your ideal client is
Would this really be "somebody in Digital Marketing"? How is digital marketing related to this? Would someone in digital marketing be making the decisions on dropping in your product? What does your ideal client actually care about? What problems are they having? If someone in digital marketing wanted more traffic, they'd just do the usual types of marketing.

2. Clarify your value proposition
How would dropping in your software even help to drive traffic? Is traffic even what they care about? Or is it something like more sales or customer happiness and higher lifetime value?
Businesses care about making money, saving money, and saving time. Where does your product fit into that?

3. Create a strong offer
"Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit" - It sounds like you're just leaving it up to them to figure out how you would help them. What are you actually proposing here? How would the collaboration work?

4. Stop pitching in your LinkedIn connection request
Build some rapport first. You can hint at how you can help, but you need to show you can provide value to them first. The only exception to this is if you have a very strong offer, which I don't see being the case here.

5. Actually personalise your outreach messages
The example you posted could just be copy and pasted to anyone in that industry. It needs to be so personalised that it couldn't be sent to anyone else in the world and make sense. This is even more important in small niches where you don't have a huge target market to burn through.

6. Test different call to actions
At the moment, you've just been asking them if they're interested. What other options could you try though? What value could you propose to them? Is there some kind of PDF or video you could share on your product? A free trial? A quick call where you would give them some kind of value?

7. Send. More. Messages.
I don't know how many people you've contacted so far, but it doesn't sound like a lot. You need to be doing high volume. If there's not a large market, then follow up with every person you contact on multiple channels. Send followup emails. Interact with their posts on LinkedIn. Cold call them. Send them a letter even.
^^^ This.

You haven't figured out how to sell to people yet or what to sell. I'd get super specific about every single connection request. You're trying to get people on a call so you can learn from them what real pain points your product can solve.



More importantly... if you've already got 5,000 free users then can you get some of them to pay?
 
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ZCP

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Damn, dude. Lot of heavy hitters here to help you.
So you bail?

Maybe take a few days, come back with some seriousness, and make a run using the help.
Can always use the experience for future projects.

You've spent ALL this time and bail before putting in two more days.
Sounds like entrepreneurship may not be for you?

Maybe get this thread closed, then start a new one with the actual full problem and full info?
Or hire someone to help you diagnose the real root cause and chase it out.
You could even be starting something else at the same time.
Just seems solvable.
 

Johnny boy

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Post stuff on linkedin in your industry and people will take notice.

My buddy sells sonar utility detection equipment. Like the guys that come mark paint lines on the road to indicate where gas lines are. He sells the equipment as a dealer and makes bank.

He gets a lot of business by posting content on linkedin. He's gotten about 300k impressions on his videos and content. Not a ton, but its a lot for the type of business he's in. It's gotten him lots of more deals.

You should find a better way to show yourself to your customer. Cold calling isn't working. Change up your strategy. If you're even sure that it's a useful and helpful solution.
 

Andy Black

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Some feedback from a marketing agency owner who deals with pharma companies. He was happy for me to post it here.

Ron response.png
 
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zander1983

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Some feedback from a marketing agency owner who deals with pharma companies. He was happy for me to post it here.

View attachment 44194
Thanks Andy, you've been a great help. I slowly realised this, that pharma companies want everything proprietary. In fact, I spend a long time working on "standardisation" across machines so that experiments are reproducable. This seemed like a great idea to me. Turns out, pharma companies dont want that. They want their machines to be slightly different as it prevents existing customers from leaving. Honestly, the app is not amazing. Its a web version of existing heavy-duty desktop software, with about 30% of the functionality of that software - all the important stuff to cover about 75% of all flow experiments. My thinking was "well if I make an easily accessible browser version, only coding the key functionality, and these softwares make 2k per customer per year, then I'll make 1k". When I released the software in 2018 it was quite useful. However I never pushed on (personal circumstances). Since then a few similar (and now probably better apps) have emerged. Now Im pushing a white-label version of it (thats what I was trying to sell in those emails and linked in message) but honestly, I dont think the software is up to scratch. And no way am I putting in more time in trying to improve it.
 

zander1983

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Damn, dude. Lot of heavy hitters here to help you.
So you bail?

Maybe take a few days, come back with some seriousness, and make a run using the help.
Can always use the experience for future projects.

You've spent ALL this time and bail before putting in two more days.
Sounds like entrepreneurship may not be for you?

Maybe get this thread closed, then start a new one with the actual full problem and full info?
Or hire someone to help you diagnose the real root cause and chase it out.
You could even be starting something else at the same time.
Just seems solvable.
Yeah thats the plan, Im going to take a few days off this project - trying to buy a home at the mo - and come back and post here with what I did and the results.
 

zander1983

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View attachment 44173

It's not clear who you help, what you help them with, and how you do it.

Let's say you cold messaged your ideal prospect, or they read something you posted, or they read a comment you wrote on a post by some thought leader they follow.

They'll likely check out your profile.

Would they *immediately* see you help people exactly like them to solve the problem they have that they want to get rid of?

Treat your profile like a landing page.

You've your banner/header area which you've left blank and which is a missed opportunity.

The photo looks good imo. Friendly and approachable.

The headline/title doesn't mention you've got 5,000 users signed up. Should you mention "Software Engineer and part-time farmer."? (Not saying not to. Maybe it helps let people know more about you as a person.)

Your About section should be more about them and less about you. Go into more detail about who you help, what you help them with, and how you do it.

People might spot your featured posts. What are they about? Are they related to what you do? Will they be intrigued, want to read them, and get some actionable tips while getting to know what you do?


Get your profile sorted, then maybe we can discuss who you're trying to reach out to.

Who do you help?

What do you help them with?

How do you do it?



For context, here's my work in progress. It's not perfect by any means, but I lead with "Google Ads Freelancer". That's enough imo for people to know what I do. (Note that I have Creator mode ON so my profile options are likely different from yours.)

Go create a swipe file of good profiles you come across that make it obvious what they do and who they help.

View attachment 44172
View attachment 44179


Here's my Featured section. I want to create a couple more articles to feature in here.

View attachment 44174
Thanks Andy, this is savage advice again. Im going to take a few days off this but post here again with what I did, and what results i got.
 
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However, I cannot believe how difficult it is to get even the tiniest bit of engagement. I have a live site with daily users in labs around the world - its not like Im selling nothing.

My strike rate over the last 2 months is approximately:

For every 70 emails I send, I get 1 reply, this tends to be "contact this person" - I contact them and no reply.

For every 30 LinkedIn connect request "with note" I get 1 connection. I follow up with a fuller message, I get no reply.

For every "inmail" LinkedIn (I started paying) I have never gotten a reply.



Now I dont know if this is specific to the industry, to the size of the companies (medium to large), or if cold approach in every form is now dead due to overwhelming amounts of spam in email and on LinkedIn, or Im just a horrible seller. I dont blame my software as I cant get to the point of anyone actually replying to me.

When Im sending an email/message, I spend time researching the company and person, and I personalise it. Here's an example of the email I recently sent to 30 or so people in various pharma companies in the area:

Hi Gil

I came across your profile on LinkedIn as I've been looking for somebody in Digital Marketing within [company].

I run a cytometry analysis app [my website] and many of my users use [company] Full Spectrum Viewer alongside my app.

Since both softwares complement each other really nicely, I think there's a good opportunity here to drive more traffic to [company]'s website. Is this something you're interested in doing?

Thanks
Mark


PS My LinkedIn profile is [url to my LinkedIn]



The email subject was "drive more traffic to [company]"


This got zero replies.

Here is the LinkedIn note:

Hi Eric, reaching out as I'm the founder of a app [link to my app] that users often use alongside [companys]'s spectra viewer. Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit. Would love to connect.

Firstly, congrats. People are using your product daily, and you're getting responses from some not-so-great copy. That means that when you've optimised your cold outbound prospecting tactics, you're at least going to get some meetings. Also means that you have people using your product that you can talk to.

I recommend reaching out to the people who use your product, asking for a brief interview to get their opinion on the product, and asking them these questions:

1. Can you describe the problem you were having before using [my product].
2. Can you explain the frustrations you were experiencing when trying to resolve the problem?
3. Could you please describe the moment you understood [my product/service] was the solution to your problem?
4. What does your day-to-day look like now that this problem is solved?

From here, you're going to get qualitative information around the problem you're really solving and what it is actually doing for your users (Like, Paypal is a payments transaction platform, but it's really just making payments a 2-step process and so removes the stress and time spent paying people. Hence, I use Paypal to remove stress and time as opposed to the function of the platform). Drill down on the logic (functions), but also importantly emotion (less stress and more time back).

Using this information, recalibrate and change your outreach messaging.

Secondly, your outreach sucks for a few main reasons I'm sure. But the clear ones to me are this. You're not talking to the right person - who are these people you're getting referred to? They are clearly the people you should be talking to, unless you're talking to non-decision makers to gather information. When you do get told someone else is better to speak to, get on the phone and say "Hi John, this is Jack from Microsoft. Sarah recommended I speak to you. Is now a good time?", and if it isn't a good time you say, "Totally, when's a good time to call back?", and get a time to ring them back - and boom, you've got a way in. Naturally, you will get people who simply will not pick back up, but they've heard your name, so you can continue to hit them back up by email and other channels until they do/don't respond.

Your outreach is also all about you, and not them. What sounds better? "I run a community called the Fastlane Forum, I want you to sign up because I want... I want... I want." VS, "You're building an awesome business, saw that you needed help with getting your first potential customer? If you want to speak with other people who have had this struggle and overcome it, can send you a link to the Fastlane Forum, full of growing and successful entrepreneurs?". Tip for this: remove the words 'I', 'Me, 'We', '<your company name>', and use 'You', 'Your', '<their company name>' more.

Here's my go-to for emails, contextualised to your forum post:

"Hi Zander, you posted on Fastlane that you're struggling to get meetings with your prospects.

Flow cycometry sounds quite niche, but have worked with similar niche companies, so that they can double the amount of meetings they have with prospects?

Happy to share details if you'd like?

// no sign off like "Kind Regards" or "Wishing you the most greatest, and dearest success and wellness" here, just your regular signature below. Eg:
Jack
VP Sales, <company>"

Happy to explain the psychology around this if wanted. There's a lot to cover around outbound prospecting, but happy to give advice around emailing, cold calling, videos, etc.
 
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Why do you think busy medium-large pharma executives have time for a “genuine” conversation?
Well, they don't. I spent too many years selling a few million dollars worth of software to such people. Not exactly my go-to earnings strategy any more (Thank God), but I learned a lot about endlessly pushing the rock uphill and closing deals regardless.

@zander1983

There's really only two ways of contacting those people. You either reach them directly or you get referred up the food chain from a lower level manager. That's it. The pitchy email is garbage. Complete waste of time even writing it much less sending it. Start by identifying who you should be contacting in the first place. That's Step 1 in the sales process. You can't possibly expect anyone here to answer that without an in-depth knowledge of the industry, your product and what problems it solves. Sorry to sound harsh, but that's *your* job.

Have you studied or learned ANYTHING about direct response marketing? About selling complex solutions to executives? About how to generate interest by offering lead magnets in the form of white papers, industry analysis studies or webinars? About getting industry news rags to write an article about your product? About using PR?

Hit Amazon Books, search for "selling enterprise software" and start reading up.
 
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Guest-5ty5s4

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The thing that has worked best for me has been this:

"Hey, I'm _ and I have _ to offer YOU.

Here are all of my contact details: ______ website: ____ etc.

Are you free to meet/talk some time this week?"

If meeting in person, offer to go to them, don't make them go to you.

Do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to get away from being an "imaginary computer person" to real life person.
 
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Yeah thats the plan, Im going to take a few days off this project - trying to buy a home at the mo - and come back and post here with what I did and the results.
How'd it go? even if it didn't...... post.
 

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It seems like you’re selling something when you connect via LinkedIn. Why not try getting into a *genuine* conversation first and then seeing where that goes?

Also, what will they find if they check out your profile before responding? Will it help them trust you? Can they read a few posts or articles related to what you do?

I’ve been active on LinkedIn for about a week after not doing much for years. I’ve had loads of wee message conversations and even one chat with someone who wanted to hire me (I sent them off to do some homework instead).

Talk us through how you’re finding someone to contact.
Exactly this.

Don’t have your connection message on LI trying to pitch them. Bad way to approach it.

Say something like “Hey (persons name) I’m also in the (industry name) and came across your profile. Would love to be connected!”

That’s it. We use this for our marketing and it’s fire
 

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Phoenix OR
Thanks Andy, you've been a great help. I slowly realised this, that pharma companies want everything proprietary. In fact, I spend a long time working on "standardisation" across machines so that experiments are reproducable. This seemed like a great idea to me. Turns out, pharma companies dont want that. They want their machines to be slightly different as it prevents existing customers from leaving. Honestly, the app is not amazing. Its a web version of existing heavy-duty desktop software, with about 30% of the functionality of that software - all the important stuff to cover about 75% of all flow experiments. My thinking was "well if I make an easily accessible browser version, only coding the key functionality, and these softwares make 2k per customer per year, then I'll make 1k". When I released the software in 2018 it was quite useful. However I never pushed on (personal circumstances). Since then a few similar (and now probably better apps) have emerged. Now Im pushing a white-label version of it (thats what I was trying to sell in those emails and linked in message) but honestly, I dont think the software is up to scratch. And no way am I putting in more time in trying to improve it.
So....I used to work for TreeStar. Is this an approved white label offshoot, or are you pirating someone's code? because there's issues, and those issues apply to your potential customers.

Why should anyone, let alone the big players, who move at the speed of sloth moss, change up their system for a lightweight version of something they're already using? What EXACT experiments can your version do, and what are the EXACT time and money savings.

Run side by side visual examples, and start showing them to the researchers. The researchers are not the purchasers, but if the tool is good enough, they'll open channels for you.

If you want to get your code baked in to the cytometers, you need to hit a couple of conferences and start talking to people. They won't respond to vague LinkedIn stuff; they're not even paying attention to that. You need a COMPELLING REASON they should drop in your stuff rather than whatever they're using now.

The flow cytometry world is small. Very small. Tread politely, and offer a real solution to a real problem.
 
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mcherubin

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Hi
I posted before about software I developed that allows people to analyse flow cytometry experiments in their browser. Its extremely niche and at this point Im trying to just make something from it, I'd be happy with 500 euro a month. I've tried different business models for the software, mainly B to C and I've come to the conclusion it doesn't work. End users - biomedical researchers in Universities and labs mainly - will simply not pay for it.

There are about 20 major players in the market. These are medium to large pharma companies. One of the biggest is Thermofisher. Thermo and the others sell the machines, but also provide a webapp to drive people who are doing their experiments to their sites. All 20 players have the same type of simple webapp (simple software to help set up flow cytometry experiments). I want to propose to them that they could drop in the software I developed (I have bundled as a Javascript library) and 1/ drive more traffic to their site as it works nicely alongside their existing webapp 2/ helps their product portfolio since I track experiment data and can feed this back to the company.

However, I cannot believe how difficult it is to get even the tiniest bit of engagement. I have a live site with daily users in labs around the world - its not like Im selling nothing.

My strike rate over the last 2 months is approximately:

For every 70 emails I send, I get 1 reply, this tends to be "contact this person" - I contact them and no reply.

For every 30 LinkedIn connect request "with note" I get 1 connection. I follow up with a fuller message, I get no reply.

For every "inmail" LinkedIn (I started paying) I have never gotten a reply.



Now I dont know if this is specific to the industry, to the size of the companies (medium to large), or if cold approach in every form is now dead due to overwhelming amounts of spam in email and on LinkedIn, or Im just a horrible seller. I dont blame my software as I cant get to the point of anyone actually replying to me.

When Im sending an email/message, I spend time researching the company and person, and I personalise it. Here's an example of the email I recently sent to 30 or so people in various pharma companies in the area:

Hi Gil

I came across your profile on LinkedIn as I've been looking for somebody in Digital Marketing within [company].

I run a cytometry analysis app [my website] and many of my users use [company] Full Spectrum Viewer alongside my app.

Since both softwares complement each other really nicely, I think there's a good opportunity here to drive more traffic to [company]'s website. Is this something you're interested in doing?

Thanks
Mark


PS My LinkedIn profile is [url to my LinkedIn]



The email subject was "drive more traffic to [company]"


This got zero replies.

Here is the LinkedIn note:

Hi Eric, reaching out as I'm the founder of a app [link to my app] that users often use alongside [companys]'s spectra viewer. Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit. Would love to connect.


Sent to 50 or so people with 0 connecting so far.

I have tried variations on the above for months with similar results.

I am completely exasperated. I'm at the point of giving up and throwing the software in the bin and moving on to something else but there's a nagging "If I cant get meetings for this, how am I going to get meetings and sell the next thing I work on"?

Now I know getting the foot in the door is only the first step. One of these companies actually contacted me themselves and we had 7 meetings before they pulled the plug saying the software didn't pass UAT by an external consultant. Very frustrating as it was one consultant's opinion and the internal team at the company were supportive of the software and wanted to proceed. So I know how hard it is to get the said over the line but I cannot believe how hard it is to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder!

Anyone with any advice, I'd be grateful. Anyone who thinks they can sell anything, Im open to a chat too (warning this is super niche and a tiny market as the software stands right now).
Hi Zander, Prospecting is fun when you do it right!

First, you need to understand that approaching your buyer via multiple ways, such as phone and voicemail, will get the best results because emails are clogged for many C-executives.

Second, your message should always be about your prospects, not about your product.



I highly recommend the book Smart Calling (Art Sobczak). The author includes many examples of how to connect with decision makers and assistants.
 

zander1983

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Hi Zander, Prospecting is fun when you do it right!

First, you need to understand that approaching your buyer via multiple ways, such as phone and voicemail, will get the best results because emails are clogged for many C-executives.

Second, your message should always be about your prospects, not about your product.



I highly recommend the book Smart Calling (Art Sobczak). The author includes many examples of how to connect with decision makers and assistants.
Thanks, i'll check out this book. In the end, one of the companies i'd been approaching reached out to me, and Ive a meeting in a week about exclusive licensing or acquiring (their words). I'll keep this thread updated.
 

TheJon

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Hi
I posted before about software I developed that allows people to analyse flow cytometry experiments in their browser. Its extremely niche and at this point Im trying to just make something from it, I'd be happy with 500 euro a month. I've tried different business models for the software, mainly B to C and I've come to the conclusion it doesn't work. End users - biomedical researchers in Universities and labs mainly - will simply not pay for it.

There are about 20 major players in the market. These are medium to large pharma companies. One of the biggest is Thermofisher. Thermo and the others sell the machines, but also provide a webapp to drive people who are doing their experiments to their sites. All 20 players have the same type of simple webapp (simple software to help set up flow cytometry experiments). I want to propose to them that they could drop in the software I developed (I have bundled as a Javascript library) and 1/ drive more traffic to their site as it works nicely alongside their existing webapp 2/ helps their product portfolio since I track experiment data and can feed this back to the company.

However, I cannot believe how difficult it is to get even the tiniest bit of engagement. I have a live site with daily users in labs around the world - its not like Im selling nothing.

My strike rate over the last 2 months is approximately:

For every 70 emails I send, I get 1 reply, this tends to be "contact this person" - I contact them and no reply.

For every 30 LinkedIn connect request "with note" I get 1 connection. I follow up with a fuller message, I get no reply.

For every "inmail" LinkedIn (I started paying) I have never gotten a reply.



Now I dont know if this is specific to the industry, to the size of the companies (medium to large), or if cold approach in every form is now dead due to overwhelming amounts of spam in email and on LinkedIn, or Im just a horrible seller. I dont blame my software as I cant get to the point of anyone actually replying to me.

When Im sending an email/message, I spend time researching the company and person, and I personalise it. Here's an example of the email I recently sent to 30 or so people in various pharma companies in the area:

Hi Gil

I came across your profile on LinkedIn as I've been looking for somebody in Digital Marketing within [company].

I run a cytometry analysis app [my website] and many of my users use [company] Full Spectrum Viewer alongside my app.

Since both softwares complement each other really nicely, I think there's a good opportunity here to drive more traffic to [company]'s website. Is this something you're interested in doing?

Thanks
Mark


PS My LinkedIn profile is [url to my LinkedIn]



The email subject was "drive more traffic to [company]"


This got zero replies.

Here is the LinkedIn note:

Hi Eric, reaching out as I'm the founder of a app [link to my app] that users often use alongside [companys]'s spectra viewer. Since the softwares complement each other nicely, I think there is an opportunity for [company] and [my app] to both benefit. Would love to connect.


Sent to 50 or so people with 0 connecting so far.

I have tried variations on the above for months with similar results.

I am completely exasperated. I'm at the point of giving up and throwing the software in the bin and moving on to something else but there's a nagging "If I cant get meetings for this, how am I going to get meetings and sell the next thing I work on"?

Now I know getting the foot in the door is only the first step. One of these companies actually contacted me themselves and we had 7 meetings before they pulled the plug saying the software didn't pass UAT by an external consultant. Very frustrating as it was one consultant's opinion and the internal team at the company were supportive of the software and wanted to proceed. So I know how hard it is to get the said over the line but I cannot believe how hard it is to get a foot on the first rung of the ladder!

Anyone with any advice, I'd be grateful. Anyone who thinks they can sell anything, Im open to a chat too (warning this is super niche and a tiny market as the software stands right now).
Hey man,

I think you are talking to the wrong people. They might be the decision maker but not the real end benifitor. Have you considered contacting the main USER of this product and selling its concept to them? If they like it THEY will sell it to the business people
 
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LightHouse

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Dropping in to pour gas on the fire here cause all the heavy hitters came out.

All these tactics are great. I'd propose your entire purpose is missing.

So long before deploying all these tactics.... I would say, that the market doesn't really care if you feel like you are entitled to compensation.

You mention you just want to get something out of it... that's good for you... and no one else.

********** Then I scroll through and see that you came to that conclusion... the correct one. That this product doesn't solve a big enough problem, or doesn't solve it well enough, or the problem it self is non-existent.

There are a lot of interesting and novel products out there that aren't commercially viable.

My suggestion, open source the code, and move on. See if anyone can pick up where you left off for some application you don't even know about, better than the trash at the end of the day. Then re-focus on building something that you can already see a clear commercial need for and use your talent in that direction.

Anyone here who has had success, also has a trail of failures behind them, just keep at it long enough and you'll find success to some degree. Good luck!
 

mcherubin

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Jan 7, 2022
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Thanks, i'll check out this book. In the end, one of the companies i'd been approaching reached out to me, and Ive a meeting in a week about exclusive licensing or acquiring (their words). I'll keep this thread updated.
I'm glad to hear it! Don't forget, you need to ask questions about their situations BEFORE offering them any advice from your expertise.
 

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