Succeed a new software business launch

	The following case comes from OptiVente's references. It aims at illustrating the implementation of real marketing and sales approaches. Context: First sales were made with friendly contacts; it is now necessary to industrialize the sales process. Marketing approach audit

Customer:	French software editor, new company with 8 employees.

Approach:	*The business plan* enabled a global strategy analysis for sales. Iinterviews with the CEO specified missing information.

Duration:	About 10 days.

Results:	Some information in the business plan was not clear for external readers: for instance, the market presentation was quite technical, which made harder for a financial institution to understand the marketing positioning . Maintenance services provided had no coherence, either too rich and expensive for a "small" company, or insufficient for "top of the range" customers. Sales contracts, written by a famous lawyer firm, were very hard to implement. Software sales implied 4 contracts; Service sales implied 2 others. Contracts had more than 100 pages ! Some presentation tools (Web, PowerPoint, typical business proposal) explained the product's technical characteristics, but the customer profits from these characteristics were clearly not explained enough or sometimes, not at all.

Recommendations:	Rephrasing of some parts of the business plan for a better understanding. Creation of "upgradable" maintenance services, adapted to small, medium and large customers. Simplification of contracts, by factoring: the 4 sales contracts were turned into a general clause contract in addition to an appendix with specific conditions. Tools improvement thanks to a customer benefits enhancement.

Some results:	The recommendations implementation enabled a good customers receptivity, Speeding up the sales cycle: The number of appointments leading to the first sales negotiations was divided by two especially thanks to the customer benefits clarification. Contracts generally brought no more questions and some contract negotiations were easier.