Sales are an important activity that leads to the sales of a company. In particular, the activities performed by companies such as IT vendors are called “system sales”, and they require more knowledge about IT than normal sales. However, there may be some who say, “I know the term system sales, but I don’t know what kind of business I will do.”
So, this time, I will introduce what system sales are, business contents and roles, and what kind of projects are provided by system sales.
table of contents
- 1. It is convenient to have IT skills! What is system development sales?
- 2. [Web, open system, etc.] What are the system development projects?
- 3. Make customer-first proposals! What is the role of sales in a system development company?
- 4. Let’s use the matching service only for the system development company!
- 5. Understand system sales and improve efficiency
It is convenient to have IT skills! What is system development sales?
System sales are “sales that provide services such as IT-related software and hardware to acquire customers.” Since it sells IT products, it is sometimes called “IT sales”. If you sell IT systems as a vendor or provide IT systems as a development company, system sales will be essential. No matter how good an IT product you have, it is meaningless unless it is recognized and sold. Especially in modern times, there are many competitors and market liquidity is fierce, so it is also important how many customers can be attracted and retained for a long time by system sales.
If you want to work as an IT salesperson, you need the following skills.
- Basic sales communication skills
- Skills related to IT services that are our products
- Skills to make planning proposals tailored to customers
- Mediation skills that bridge the client and the company’s IT department
- Skills to close and win orders according to customers
If you have basic knowledge and skills related to sales, you can do IT sales. However, due to the nature of providing the company’s IT products as a solution after understanding the customer’s concerns, deepening the understanding of basic knowledge and technology related to IT and the company’s IT products will lead to efficient sales.
In system sales, there are also tasks such as “instructing customers to introduce IT services and equipment” and “following customers while they continue to use the system”. Acquiring customers is not the end. It is important to earn continuous sales through subsequent follow-up.
By the way, when conducting system sales, we must not forget to cooperate with “inside sales,” which takes an approach to the customer’s pre-order stage.
In the past, methods such as diving sales were used, but now clients can voluntarily collect information and consider services. Therefore, nowadays, the method in which inside sales select hot customers based on data and then sales close as field sales is becoming mainstream. If the inside sales department is located separately from the IT sales department, it is important to make good adjustments and prevent troubles between departments.
[Web, open system, etc.] What are the system development projects?
Currently, IT companies are offering the following projects. Please refer to how to sell the service efficiently in system sales.
● Web system development
Web system development is the business of building and developing services used on the Internet such as websites and SNS. In the Web system, data is stored in a server on the cloud and can be processed on the Internet, making it possible to provide services that do not depend on devices.
The functionality required by a web system depends on the content you are developing.
For example, when developing a system that provides products to users as an EC site, it is necessary to perform tasks such as “building a product database”, “implementing a cart function”, and “setting automatic delivery mail according to the status”. The more functions that are required, the more difficult it will be to develop, but if you can win orders for that amount, you can expect a lot of rewards.
In addition, it is important to consider “how to ensure security” and “what kind of server settings should be made to prevent processing omissions” in the entire Web system. If we can develop a stable Web system with high security, we will win the trust of our clients.
If you would like to know more about Web system development, please also refer to the article ” Explanation of the basics of Web systems! What are the mechanisms and advantages of introducing them? “.
● Open system development
This is a development method mainly used when building a business system. It is named “open” because it is supposed to be used in various computing devices such as personal computers and smartphones.
In open system development, the point is to build by combining various elements such as “OS”, “server”, and “software”. Therefore, knowledge about various elements and skills related to construction is required, and there are cases where human resources are recruited as “open engineers”.
In open system development, the strengths of each company change, such as “strong in manufacturing system construction”, “strong in retail system construction”, and “strong in service industry system construction”. When conducting IT sales, it is necessary to understand and emphasize which field the company is good at system development.
● General-purpose system development
General-purpose system development is a development method that has existed for a long time. It is a method of system development using a dedicated computer that performs large-scale processing called a general-purpose machine. General-purpose machines are used by companies in fields that require huge amounts of data storage and processing, such as finance and distribution.
The feature of general-purpose system development is that it is independently developed from the viewpoint that high security is required. Specifically, the point is to create a system that operates only on general-purpose machines, using a language that is becoming special at present, such as “COBOL”. Comparing this point with open system development, general-purpose system development can be called closed system development.
In terms of IT sales, there are more cases where open system development is requested than when general-purpose system development is requested. However, the company that requests the development of a general-purpose system is likely to be a company with a large physical strength that has a large-scale system. Therefore, it can be said that one of the merits is that high rewards can be expected.
If you would like to know more about general-purpose system development, please also refer to the article ” What is a general-purpose system for system development? Explaining the differences between open systems “.
● Embedded system development
Embedded system development has become a highly specialized development method. For example, it is a method for developing programs for dedicated computers (microcomputers) incorporated in home appliances such as rice cookers, washing machines, and microwave ovens, or information devices such as game machines.
Now that the concept of “IoT (Internet of Things)” is becoming widespread, it is required to perform processing in cooperation with other devices as well as home appliances, so the complexity of embedded system development has further increased in recent years. I am. Another point is that we need to flexibly develop according to the client’s wishes, such as “I want to make it smaller”, “I want to save power”, and “I want to do high-speed processing”. Embedded system development requires appropriate system development skills that match the hardware. Since the demand is high by that amount, it will be possible to win a large number of orders in IT sales.
For information on embedded system development, please refer to the article ” What is an embedded system? “.
Make customer-first proposals! What is the role of sales in a system development company?
Sales at a system development company have the following roles.
● Make proposals after understanding the issues and worries of customers
For customers who want to introduce IT systems, “I want to realize DX and aim to be a highly flexible company”, “Cost reduction is an urgent requirement”, “I want to improve efficiency because many customers are missed” There are various worries such as.
To determine whether the IT products that the company can provide can solve the customer’s worries, it is necessary to hear the customer’s worries in detail and imagine how the company’s products can be solved. Therefore, system sales staff are required to have the skills to be customer-first, to be close to the issues and worries, to conduct hearings, to visualize them, and then appropriately introduce the products.
● Bridging between customers and in-house engineers
System sales also play a role in bridging development resources such as in-house engineers with customers who want to introduce IT systems.
If your engineers have high communication skills, system sales may not need to mediate. However, in reality, some engineers are not good at communication, and in some cases, it is necessary to cooperate with sales staff to explain appropriate development to customers.
In addition, it is necessary to explain to customers that “the company has such human resources”, “this budget requires this much development period”, and “this is the function that can be installed”. increase. In the explanation, it will be necessary to hear from the field and clarify what the company can provide. It is important to be able to communicate closely with customers and in-house development departments daily so that system development can be carried out smoothly.
● Perform maintenance and management as after-sales follow-up
If the customer cannot master the IT system provided, it will lead to a factor of withdrawal. It is necessary to carry out various after-sales follow-ups to increase LTV (lifetime value of customers) so that IT systems can be used with satisfaction for as long as possible.
The after-following method is as follows.
- Create an operation manual so that the person in charge on the customer side can check it immediately.
- We propose how to use it and support it so that it can be executed.
- Dispatch human resources from within the company to carry out training
- Perform regular system maintenance to prevent troubles
It’s different like this. For highly technical follow-up work, it is necessary to proceed with the work with the cooperation of the development department.
A client company is a partner who has a long-term relationship with your company. It is important to follow up diligently so that you will not be withdrawn immediately, and remember to make efforts so that you can obtain positive effects such as placing new orders for other projects.
Let’s use the matching service only for system development companies!
To acquire new customers and create repeaters, it is essential to commit to system sales. However, it is difficult for one company to smoothly execute all system sales-related operations, and problems such as lack of resources may lead to a decline in service quality and order rate. So let’s use the matching service. The matching service acts as an intermediary between companies that want to place orders and companies that want to place orders. It also supports system sales, so it has the advantage of being able to reduce labor costs for sales.
- The concierge hears and clarifies the contents of the request of the orderer
- The contractor can freely select the project he/she wants to deal with.
- Most of the clients are corporations, and about 95% of them can be directly traced.
Since we have built a unique system based on the sales flow of the IT industry, we can also obtain the effect of reducing sales man-hours.
With more than 2,500 companies, one of the largest in Japan, we can find the perfect company because of the service specialized in system development.
If you are interested, please take a look here. We also introduce case studies.
Let’s understand system sales and improve efficiency
This time, we have introduced what system sales are, business contents and roles, and what kind of projects are provided by system sales.
System sales is a key business for selling in-house IT products. There are several types of projects such as Web system development and open system development, so let’s clarify what kind of projects your company can handle before starting sales. In addition, matching services are useful for reducing sales man-hours. If you are interested, please register.
If you ever want to know about similar things, check out the Facebook page Maga Techs
