Ask HN: Tips about selling software to management consulting firms?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7532807

by dirtyaura • 12 years ago

9 4 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Do any HN readers have insights about selling software to large management consulting firms like McKinsey? We realised that the tool our team is building could also be useful for management consulting firms, but we don't really have experience in that area.

Do they try and buy new software regularly? It would make sense that they are a more forward-looking than their clients.

Can you sell to a team inside the company and expand from there, or do they have a global IT department with a strict rules?

Do they expected a lot of polish from the product, or are they willing to try a beta product, if it solves a real problem for them?

notahacker• 12 years ago

In my experience (selling to management consultancies interested in proprietary data rather more than the SaaS wrapper for it) management consulting firms' software needs and budgets are often very driven by specific projects, and if it solves a project-specific need they'll be very happy with an unpolished product so long as it can be budgeted for. The way they organise themselves also varies a lot, but if impressing partners or senior consultants with a need to solve a specific problem is probably a better route in than their back office IT purchasing function.

They're also perhaps less respectful of license agreements than you might expect...

dirtyaura2• 12 years ago

Thanks a lot! any war stories to tell about those license agreements?

robbiea• 12 years ago

I have worked for Accenture & Deloitte as a consultant and for many years and have implemented software used for internal teams.

It surprisngly works very similar to any other industry company. The software to be used internally comes from the top of the food chain and then pushed on to projects below it.

The goal is standardization across projects, so I think it would be extremely tough to use an "un-tested" or un-authorized tool at a project level without it coming from the top of the chain first.

Especially McKinsey where the process & methodologies are very defined. It would start from the top and then maybe use a "pilot" project for a small engagement.

They are often forward looking for their clients, but not forward looking internally if that makes sense.

Usually there is a "Tools & Methodology" team that is an internal team and that is who you should be selling to. This is the team that defines the tools that are used for projects.

I hope that helps.

dirtyaura2• 12 years ago

Thanks a lot, very valuable. I'm going to interview a few people that have a background in these companies, good to have a realistic base line.

Ask HN: Tips about selling software to management consulting firms?

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