What are the best ways to get clients for software startup?

Start selling as early as possible

 
Software services are based on intellectual work of quite expensive specialists (developers) who are useless in case there is no project for them. This means you don't have time to procrastinate, you have to start selling asap. Otherwise you will end up paying your staff for doing nothing, which is not the smartest move to be honest. 
 
“We haven't finished painting office walls”, “I don't have sales reps”, “our launch party is next month”, “we still don't have the logo” and other excuses are bullshit. You don't need much to start selling. Laptop and wifi is all you need.
 
Do things that don't scale first
 
You don't have to start with mass selling. It's more beneficial if you take small steps in the beginning. 
Find first clients from your network - people who know you. This way you can skip trust building phase, which is always a challenge for startups with zero or min credibility.
 
Learn as much as you can from your first clients

Acquiring first customers gives you tremendous knowledge:

• what kind of companies decide to buy from you (and why)
• how you can help them
• what problems or pains you can solve
• what they like about what you, what - don't
• what you should change to attract more customers
• etc.

Analyse your first customers and pick the best ones that benefit from what you do the most. Check what they have in common. Collect all these features to create your ideal customer profile(s). It will help you define whom to approach further on.

Create case studies and collect testimonies from your first clients. These are the first bricks in building trust and recognition. Later on you can show potential clients that you’ve helped similar companies before. Such things usually help to close new deals easier and faster.

Ask for referrals

Grow your initial customer base with the help of recommendations, references and introductions that your current clients can give you.

It will happen naturally if you do your work amazingly and people start talking about it. To achieve a snowball effect with referrals - take control over this process: organize referral programs, offer discounts or other goodies for those who bring friends and so on.

Approach potential clients from other markets

A good thing about software startups is that you can deliver from anywhere in the world and increase your customer pool by targeting other markets. And you don't need to send your sales reps abroad to make it happen. These days you easily can find customers online.

You can try cold emailing to do that. With this technique you send personalized witty emails to target customers. This is how it works:

• Define the target and set up search criteria. After analyzing your first clients (point 3 above) you can easily do it.
• Find contact details of your target audience. Do it manually with the help of Google, LinkedIn and other social media. Or avoid handwork by using the B2B search app, like the one that RightHello provides.
• Create email copy (intro and follow ups) and start sending them out.
• Monitor responses and follow up if you don't hear back.
• Enjoy new conversations with potential clients in your inbox!