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We are a team of developers that's started up a small software company with very few funds. We worked day and night without any salaries and finished developing two products: a complete Human Resources Management System (HRMS), and a Financial System.

Our problem now is that we don't have the enough funds to hire an expert marketing and sales manager to sell our products.

What's the best solution for our case?

Thanks in advance.

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5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote

Marketing is tough if you want someone to work for free. Sounds like you might need to give up some equity for that.

Sales is easier because salespeople are used to working on commission. Outside sales positions are often no-base, high-commission arrangements.

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Right on marketing but will qualified sales people take a no base position with no proof of sales/startup? You have to put your hopes on up and coming sales pros or those willing to take a huge risk. Maybe you catch them out of a job/nothing else to lose only to have them quit when the jobs with base salary, benefits and expense accounts come calling. – JeffO Mar 4 '10 at 2:55
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It depends on the type of sales. Outside sales folks often have no base; inside sales always have a base. But maybe I should re-emphasize the "high-commission" counterpart to "no-base!" I agree with you that it's possible you get the desperate guys if there's no base, but the opposite is true too -- the ace-of-the-base salesman who realizes he can make MUCH more money this way AND has a bit of entrepreneurial bent, which of course is exactly who you would want... – Jason Mar 4 '10 at 18:44
up vote 4 down vote

You can certainly apply Inbound Marketing techniques as a start but that will only get you so far. You really do need to find some marketing talent that will initially work for stock.

Sales people will work on commission but probably the best path to success is for your team to tap your network and do a little selling of your own. This way, you will get to talk to customers and rapidly understand how your product is being received. With an outside sales rep, you don't necessarily get that rapid feedback.

I know it sounds scary, but having your team dig into the sales and marketing tasks as you look for people will get things rolling faster. Nothing gets stuff done faster than putting some intense focus on it.

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up vote 1 down vote

A good start for some low cost sales and marketing might be to link to your products from your OnStartups profile.

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up vote 1 down vote

Here's what I did when I found myself in a similar situation -

I already had too many partners and I didnt wanted to give any stock to my sales team. Hence I offered them profit share. Its simple and it worked.

However, it was not easy to find a sales team that was willing to work at these provisions. Heck, it wasn't difficult, either.

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Alternatively, you can contact call centers and BPOs that are willing to sell and market your products on a commission basis. – Prateek Mishra Nov 12 '10 at 11:14
up vote 0 down vote

If you don't have the finances to hire marketing and sales people then either you have to get funding or roll up the sleeves and try it yourself.

Both Human Resource Management System (HRMS) and Financial System are very niche markets.

Somehow, either members of your team or someone very close must have worked in those markets in order to be able to find the pain points or voids in those markets and develop these products for them.

That's where you should start.

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