Flying Solo without a compass

[redford]

Hi all...

This is a great idea! here is my story...

I have started a business in the IT sector selling domain names, SSL digital certificates and other IT type things. www.webip.com.au I left a big brand, reputable listed company to do this. I have developed systems and processes which means that my Sales/Delivery time is split 50/50.

Irrespective of how much you read on starting a new business etc, nothing prepares you for the fact that your all on your own. With no marketing budget and a small client list, when the phone rings I get this confused look on my face; followed by benign excitment; followed by a clumsy scamble for the phone; followed by masked dissapointment that it's either my girlfriend or reception (serviced office) calling me to let me know that there is nothing wrong with my phone... or email.

Our delivery is very strong. We are providing the few clients we have with hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars in savings. Service is by far an industry reference point for efficiency and responsiveness. But with no marketing spend who is their to tell?

I was also suprised at how hard it is to win new business. Granted I deal with IT Managers and some of them require a System Shutdown before they'll consider efficencies or outside help. The worst is that our solution saves these guys both time and money. But still they dither, dont make a decision or dont take my calls.... some treat me with contempt. But that's OK, the occassional business says "sure... sounds like a good idea" and then they sit on it for months on end, some without ever doing anything about it... IT Managers are busy people, so our stuff is normally on the bottom off the To-Do List. We're still trying to work out how to move from the bottom off the do list... to... well at least, further up the list...

Most of our business to date has come from already established relationships.

It would be great to hear your start out story? What your challenges were? and how you overcame them. we'll get there and are still figuring a lot out in many respects, so it would be great to hear from you.



Redford

ps: It's great to have a forum to get this out and off my chest. What I'd love people to share with me are your stories of how you started (are starting) out

[soliddata]

Originally Posted by redford

I was also suprised at how hard it is to win new business. Granted I deal with IT Managers and some of them require a System Shutdown before they'll consider efficencies or outside help.

Hi redford,

You are so right - take whatever initial sales estimations you had, and cut them down and blow out the lead times.

I have been selling online backup solutions for almost 10 years, mostly via resellers, and I have been constantly amazed about:
- IT guys who dont care about backups, or are happy to tell their customers to use memory sticks...
- customers who know they should do backups, but never want to get it organised

My best story is an accountant in Canberra who did a free 30-day trial of Solid Data Storage, and we recovered all their data after a crash on day 29, then they didn't take a subscription because they said THEY DIDN'T NEED IT!!!

Anyway, welcome to Flying Solo now that I have had my rant too LOL.

Kev