Clichés are often clichés because they are true, and this is no exception:

it’s easier to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond

or, it’s easier to gain a 50% share of a £1m market than it is a 0.5% share of a £100m market.

This project demonstrates this fact rather nicely. The software product started life as a bespoke application, written for a specialist unit within a major Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) and had also been adopted by a small number of Police forces. One realistic competitor was present in the marketplace, an incumbent that had been tweaked to suit the purpose, but the provider was suffering some financial difficulties: confidence in the provider and the application was declining.

This was a niche market with only around 50 prospective customers, so the application demanded a price tag that could recover development costs and an element of profit too (start with the end in mind).

Strategically, the product carried the credibility of a major LEA already having adopted the software, so communication was the obvious starting point: and that means dialogue, not monologue.

I developed an understanding: each potential client was contacted by telephone and visited if possible, even in such a small niche it is absolutely critical that the market is understood and that the product delivers real benefit.

How did they currently work? How was this problematic? What would make life easier?

I developed friendships and trust: throughout the project, listening proved a fundamental part of its success. Regular contact with users, managers and influencers was managed through telephone, meetings, user groups and most importantly, involving those users in the development of the software.

That’s how the product now dominates the UK market. So where to from there?

Developing a strategy: how can scale be achieved? Two realistic opportunities, either modify the product to suit similar verticals, leveraging the existing user base, or export.

Both options present their own challenges: how to make changes to a product without compromising its relevance to a specific group of users, with specific demands; how to go about establishing a need in international markets and to get in contact with your potential clients.

We tried both, tentatively, and ultimately made more progress with export with help from a trade association funded through UKTI and a number of low-cost exhibitions that placed us right in front of a relevant audience. Initial, pivotal sales were made to a leading LEA in the Netherlands and the application translated, leading to a replication of the model in the UK marketplace.

It’s not easy, but it’s possible with the right development.