The Hindu Business Line : Get the sole entry ticket

You don't get a second chance to make the first impression. How do small Indian IT companies grab attention overseas, especially with the big daddies lurking?

THE IT story is all so simple, right? Just set up shop, go tell the waiting buyers that you are ready to sell and you have them eating out of your palm, isn't that so?

No, it really isn't that simple. When there is frenzy in the developing world over offshoring and outsourcing, and everyone is clamouring to sell to the developed world, how do small companies from India stand out?

How do these manage to sell outside India? Especially, how do they sell in countries such as the US where the big daddies of Indian IT are all well-known and established?

It's clearly not impossible, as is evident from the numerous small companies that seem to have not only survived the IT spending slump in 2000-02 but have also thrived beyond. We sounded out a few of them.

What is common to all of them is presence of manpower in those countries where they want to be serious players. In addition, here are a few nuggets of wisdom that have got them gold.

The Internet's the place

Some seem to be successful selling on the Net. P. Ravishankar, chief operating officer, Synaptris Decisions that develops and sells products in the area of real time reporting and business intelligence, says, "More than 60 per cent of our revenues comes through initial contact with the prospect on the Internet."

The same company also sees value in addressing small groups of people who might make a difference to the selling process later. (This is in addition to having a direct sales presence in certain areas.)

For instance, Ravishankar encourages his technical personnel to associate with user groups. In the US, it is common for people in the field of information technology to get together once in a while.

Ravishankar says, "Our technical evangelists and architects, even our technical sales personnel attend various user group meetings. For example, if our business managers or architects are in say Miami, we ask them to check out if a Linux User Group or any other user group is meeting that day in Miami, and if they are, to attend it, interact, learn and evangelise." While they may perform technical demonstrations and educate the group members on the improvements made to Synaptris' products and solutions, they do not make a sales pitch at these User Group meetings. But still, one of them could actually become the champion for your cause when you visit his company to sell your wares months later, he says.

Do it the direct way

T. Chandramohan, CEO, BharatPlanet Consulting, which offers software services and employs about 30 people, prefers the direct method of selling. His associates present in the US generate every sales lead that he gets. Says Chandramohan, "If I had a product that could be easily downloaded, I would have liked to sell on the Net. But, for services, it's a different ball game."

But isn't "Outsourcing, India" a popular keyword search on the Net? All one has to do is to place advertisements on search engines such as Google. Sure, he admits. "We did try this some time ago. But we didn't get good leads."

He figures that serious buyers and those with reasonably-sized IT budgets wouldn't depend solely on the Net to find sellers. That's where presence in that country or city helps him.

But big sales spending, or getting the right people in the US or wherever it is you want to sell, aren't the only keys to success. Making the best of an opportunity right at home counts.

BharatPlanet is also an example of a company that made the best of the IT spending slump. One of its biggest customers actually got rid of a costlier Indian IT vendor and chose to work with BharatPlanet.

Says Chandramohan, "Now, he is a one-man marketing organisation in the US. We do all else for him out of India." Though Chandramohan doesn't comment on it, these changeovers happen typically on the basis of lower pricing. Once the customer is truly tied in, pricing could be smoothly driven up, to the vendor's advantage.

Stability and referrals

Chandu Nair, director, Scope eKnowledge, says he has about 15 clients and only two have actually visited Scope's centre before awarding a contract. How did he manage that?

The company's background, he replies. Scope, he says, has been around for 17 years. It was in the market research business and recently begun using those and allied skills to offer BPO services.

"Once you offer them the carrot of stability, that's much of the battle won."

But that doesn't mean success till the end. Nair emphasises an obvious but important thing. "Only when you meet or exceed expectations for a client does he refer you to others."

Referrals are the best bet, he says. The hard work, before he meets the client, happens at the back end. His Chennai team has built up a database of client prospects. It conducts e-mail campaigns for those prospects.

For those who don't respond, reminder e-mails are sent. For those who do, the team in Chennai or US-based associates monitor progress, set up meetings and so on till the effort culminates in a sales pitch.

Nair's co-promoter, R Sivadas, adds, "To network with potential customers, we have identified a few exhibitions and seminars worldwide." Participating in those gives them an opportunity to `meet and exchange notes with key people' from potential client companies. He adds, "In our business we also need to be perceived as knowledgeable so (networking) at some of these fora and sharing information play a key role in being pegged as `knowledgeable'."

Local partner matters

Ganesh Mandalam, CEO, Xerago - that offers software services - agrees that all of the above is important. But, he feels, having a local partner in the country where you want to sell surpasses all other efforts. Mandalam says, "Whatever you do and however well you do it, without a local partner to recommend you, it's a tough deal."

He says, "In the Middle East, I have our countryman with a lot of experience selling in that market and he's brought a lot of attention to our company. But our local partner has certainly opened more doors that we could have on our own."

He recounts an example of a client that underwent a merger while still undecided on awarding a contract to Xerago. Being very friendly with the Singapore-based manager of that multinational company, he expected the deal to be closed quickly. That person referred Mandalam to a higher authority in the client company in San Francisco.

Mandalam says, "Despite having a referral from within their company, I drew no response after tens of calls to the San Francisco executive. I left voice mail after voice mail, sent e-mail, and tried every trick in the book but to no avail."

He feels a local partner might have made a difference. He has one such now in the Bay Area. According to Mandalam, "This partner has lived there for 40 years. He is a serial entrepreneur who has built up valuable contacts.

Mandalam feels there surely is a difference between his asking a client: `May I take an hour of your time?' as against the local partner picking up the phone and bellowing, "Hey bud. How about beer and snow bowling this week? And why don't you meet these chaps from India?"

US and them

For those selling in the US for the first time, a few pointers that could help:

Americans like vendors who talk straight and don't sound wishy-washy.

They admire honesty and transparency.

They need to be clear on the agenda of your meeting.

KISS — keep it short and sweet, your presentation, we mean. Verbal diarrhoea is a sure way to lose their attention.

They hate too much text in a slide and prefer more graphs.

Buyers would like one Take-Out point in a slide.

They tend to focus on WFIM — What's in it for me?

Don't pretend to be a Jack of All Trades — they like folks specialising in an area.

Source: Scope eKnowledge

bharatk@thehindu.co.in