Software Sales Business Plan

Various strategy/and implementation topics are discussed in the following sections.

5.1 Competitive Edge

Our greatest strength and competitive edge is the reputation and success of the desktop software product. This product is the market leader in sales and consumer ratings. Our success will rely upon building on those strengths. We will also rely on our experience working with decision makers at the corporate level.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

We will position CSS as the best planning consultant for large corporations interested in the desktop software we sell. The software’s reputation is already established, so we need to focus on our understanding of the needs of large corporations and franchises, and how we can translate that into finding the correct software solution.

5.2.1 Pricing Strategy

This is an expensive solution to develop and maintain, and the price will reflect the premium quality of the offering. Set-up costs to the client will run between $100K-$200K. The dedicated service option is approximately $5K/year. Software licenses are $100/year.

5.3 Sales Strategy

We will first target the corporate offices of franchises with more than 100 units, and companies with sales forces in excess of 100 personnel. The software manufacturer has already provided the names and contact information for several firms which fit this profile. These firms have approached the software manufacturer about enterprise solutions in the past. The software firm has also provided a list of larger businesses that purchased an executive version of their desktop product. We will contact these firms with the idea of helping them take this planning tool to the next level.

Management of CSS has business contacts at the decision maker level for several more prospects as well. These will be our secondary targets.

Tertiary targets will come from lists of firms fitting the above criteria which management has generated through Web-based market research efforts. Tactics for approaching these prospects will be indirect, i.e., we will contact sales managers and/or franchisees to establish whether the firm fits our profile and then probe for upper or middle level management contact information. We will attempt to establish a face-to-face meeting with decision makers (CFO, CIO, COO) where we will present a proposal tailored to their needs. If possible, we will also have this proposal reside on an extranet so that the client can modify the proposal and see first-hand how the product and service work.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

Our sales consist of two services–consulting and training, and one product-the software/extranet package (called start-up sales). Our services provide a fraction of the revenue we will receive for the software/extranet solution, but they will sustain our cash flow needs while we develop the enterprise sales. Sales of consulting, training and product are predicted to grow at 30%, 20% and 10% respectively. Costs associated with these sales are estimated at 10% for start-up sales, 40% for consulting fees and 50% for training. We expect these costs to decrease two, five, and ten percentage points respectively in years two and three.