How to Sell Your Software to a Big Company

Are you thinking of selling your software? Do you want to know what it takes to sell your software to a big company for a big buck? If you feel you have a software with great value and you want to sell it for a 6-figure amount to a big company, you’re in the right place.

There are a lot of software developers who are swimming in millions right now from the sales of their software. But before you can actually sell your software, there are a lot of factors you must consider as you are not the only developer trying to sell your software.

In this post, you are going to learn everything you need to know to sell your software to a big company and how to pitch them and create a room for negotiation.

What’s the Worth of Your Software in the Marketplace?

First, do you really know the worth of your software in the marketplace? This is a very big question for you to answer.

How many users is your software servicing? Or is it yet to enter the market?

For big companies to have an interest in your software, it should be solving a competitive problem in the marketplace. This is one big factor you must look into. No one wants to buy a product that doesn’t fill a gap in a big market.

What big problem does your software solve and is your software the only product solving that problem? How big is the market your software is servicing? What makes your software unique from other software solving the same problem as yours? Which industry does your software serve?

All these and more are what determine the worth of your software to a big company. And answers to these questions will help you create a unique selling point (USP) and pitch your software to big companies.

Selling Your Software – The Game Plan

When you have done your homework and can provide answers to the questions above, then you are ready to market and sell your software. Here are 3 basic steps to follow to sell your software to a big company.

1. Know Your Target Audience

You don’t just want to start looking for any big company that will buy your software. Your job is to look for companies in the same industry your software serves. Companies in the industry your software serves are your target audience.

The best way to approach this and stay focused is by creating a Client Profile or Persona. You should have an idea of the kind of company you want to sell your software to, their location, their present capital size, last software purchase (if any) and some other basic details.

When you have an idea of who you will be selling your software to, it will help you come up with a game plan of how to find them, your asking price, and pitch your software to them.

Companies in the industry your software serves are your target audience.

2. Have a Marketing Plan

You can’t really succeed without a marketing plan. You will have to sit down and create a marketing strategy on how you will market your software to get the attention of big companies to finally get a buyer.

You will have to consider both digital and local magazine marketing targeting companies in the industry your software serves. You may need to hire a marketing agency to help you come up with outstanding marketing strategies and marketing materials for your software.

You can also start a blog or social media page around the software and build a strong online presence just to create awareness for the software. You can do this with social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook to get the attention of your target audience.

As the page or blog begins to receive traffic and engagement, awareness of the software will begin to increase, and then you can state in one of the posts that the software is for sale.

This is just an example you can use. But all the same, come up with a marketing plan for your software. To start telling everybody and requesting that they help you reach out to top people in their connection won’t get you any tangible result.

Also read:

• How to Know if You’re Meant to be an Entrepreneur
• Reasons People Fail at Making Money Online
• Low Cost Marketing Strategies for Startups

3. Play Around with Different Price Offers

Even though you already have a price in mind you would like to sell your software, don’t state it to your buyer. Give them a higher figure and let them negotiate with you. You will be surprised what will happen after that.

Also, different companies will surely give you a price that they feel your software is worth to them, and still make you feel that no company will offer you that price to buy your software. Don’t fall for that game. They are trying to lure you to accept their offer.

No matter how big an offer is for your software, don’t quickly accept it. Tell them you will get back to them and book another meeting with another company to hear what they have to offer for your software.

After several meetings with different companies, then sit down and pick the one that you like to sell your software to.

Note, this is just a piece of advice, you can ignore. If you are doing it for the money and you don’t have the luxury of time to hear what other companies will say, go with the first offer as far as you are okay with the bid. But make sure you don’t underprice your software.

Conclusion

Value is really what companies are buying and not just your software. So, make sure the value of your software is premium in the marketplace. Companies have their way of looking at things from a different direction.

It may just be that they want to buy it because they want to include one or two features into it that will make it explode and generate a lot of profit for them.

So, you can play around with small companies in your industry to hear questions they will ask you so you can prepare yourself before you approach the big companies or before they come to you.