How Idealogic Onboards New Customers
Written by CEO and Co-Founder at Idealogic Alex Saiko,
A few weeks ago, my colleague wrote an article about her duties as a Business Analyst at Idealogic, and I thought that it might be useful to explain what I and my colleagues do while onboarding a new customer.
There are a couple of classic stereotypes about salespersons: all they care about is getting invoices paid, they do not care much about the quality of the service, and, of course, all of them are greedy. Surely, I cannot speak on behalf of every salesperson around the world, but these stereotypes are only 50% true about the Idealogic sales department. ? Indeed, I encourage myself and my colleagues to be focused on the result, and, in a way, it makes us greedy because all our bonuses depend on the cashflow. At the same time, Idealogic values restrain us from bothering our clients more often than necessary — our team thinks that the quality of the service and client’s satisfaction should always come first, even if it makes a sales guy unhappy.
I already made a compliment to our patience and client-oriented attitude, so now it’s time to talk about the flow that helps us to understand the real expectations of potential clients. No matter which country a lead is from or which channel was used to get in touch with us, we start the communication from sending our profile with a presentation that is relevant to a lead’s inquiry. This introduction allows a lead to understand our main areas of expertise, check referral websites, see some reviews, and get ready for a quick call. Even when there is no video connection, quick introductory calls are mandatory as they are a great way to make a unique positioning and hear a client’s vision of his idea. In most cases, we later receive a small (or sometimes not so small ?) presentation, pitch notes, or simple specifications that help us to prepare the team for the estimation process. The materials are indeed helpful, but the first impression is always crucial — even if at first sight it might seem confusing for a client reviewing multiple services providers.
The next step takes about 1-2 days and includes preparing a template-based technical concept with a clear definition of high-level architecture, roles of users, functionality, risks, and suggestions. We always have questions about some controversial features or possible bottlenecks, and the answers are used by a Business Analyst to finish the concept that would be sent to developers. The sales executive is still involved in this process because the scope of work should be completely clear for each participant of the estimation process, and we’re no exception.
The estimation process typically takes about 2-4 workdays, and during this period, our developers explore a technical concept, prepare the list of epics, and make their rough development cost estimation. 80% of our clients come with no specs or design, so the Product Design stage should be already estimated as a fixed-price project with a clear understanding of the maximum budget a client wants to spend on UI/UX design and business analysis work. Close involvement of a sales executive guarantees that you won’t work with a person that doesn’t care about your project and its values.
So, you finally approved a technical concept, received a pre-sale estimate with a fixed price for the Product Design stage, and a rough estimate for the development stage. What’s next? Now, we recommend you to compare offers, check estimates from other providers, and decide. Feel free to ask us any questions, we are always happy to dispel doubts if there are any?
Hope this reading wasn’t boring for those who want to understand how a typical custom software development company engages and interacts with a potential client. At Idealogic, we strive for making every single step as clear as possible since there is nothing worse in partnership than an unexpected surprise.