When it comes to selling your own software, we have some FileMaker Pro tips that can go along way. Before we start selling any of our software, we ask one simple question. And people who are looking to build and sell their own software in a particular industry need to ask themselves the same basic question before they get started:
What problem am I trying to solve?
We ask this question of ourselves for a number of reasons. As you start developing and selling your own software, this is a critical question for a couple of reasons:
- In today’s market, competition is stiff. Your competitors have already developed software for every conceivable industry and business. Somebody has no doubt already created software for whatever industry you are interested in. If the software already exists, then you need to find the gaps, the weaknesses, the places where it doesn’t function as well as it could . In short, you need to find your clients’ pain points and develop software that meets these pain points. What activities in your industry are still a big pain to accomplish, even with the existing software? What is harder than it needs to be? This is the area in which you should focus on your software solution.By the way, it is called a ‘solution’, because it answers a question, or solves a problem.
- The second reason why this question is critical is because most people are content with good enough for their software applications. When it comes to selling your software, many of your clients may be content with what they already have. We have found that if a software solution more or less does what they want a piece of software to do, our clients often stick with what they know. It is really amazing how many contortions clients may be willing to go through or complicated procedures to continue to use their current software.
Software Solutions Address Pain Points
The only reason someone would be willing to make the switch to something new, in many cases, is because it is either too expensive to continue using the same software, or it is too painful. That is your opening. When you consider developing your own software solution, consider developing a solution that solves what is painful about the current software.
So when considering making your own custom business software application, the key question to ask is, “What problem am I trying to solve?” If you do that, you will be on your way to success!
Learn more about developing your own software with our HighPower Data Resources.