Customer from Nowhere
Written by Roman on June 2, 2008 – 12:04 pm
It happened during my last trip to Saudi Arabia. I was sitting in the hotel lobby using free Wi-Fi Internet very late at night. It was about 1 am. The only thing I wanted was to go to bed, but I had to finish couple e-mails first. Suddenly, a guy in Arab cloth sat down next to me on the sofa. People in Arabic countries are normally very social; it is very different from frozen Scandinavia 
The guy asked me something about where I came from, what I did in Saudi Arabia and thousands of other questions. I was answering trying to smile and showing I was really busy and wouldn’t want to continue talking as I had some urgent stuff to do.
When he asked me about what I did for living, I told him a little bit about our drug database. And you know what? That guy was a pharmacist. Even more, he was a chief pharmacist in Ministry of Social Affairs! He asked me for a demo CD and we exchanged business cards.
Yesterday we got a purchase order from Ministry of Social Affairs for five-year license. By the way, it is our first customer that has purchased a license for such a long period of time. And I was very close to clearly tell this guy that I was sorry, but I needed to make my job done…
The conclusion is that you would always have a demo CD or booklets with you. You never know where you might get a new customer. Probably, business card with a web address of your product works also fine, but folk here in the Middle Eats prefer to get something they could touch.
And the main thing - always talk to the people. It is probably the easiest and cheapest way to market your product.
Have you ever had an unusual situation when a new customer just came out from nowhere when least expected? Tell your story in the comments.
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August 10th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I am searching for a drug database and I would love to see a demo version of your Product.
August 10th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Thank you for your interest - I have sent you an e-mail.
September 19th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Hi Roman,
Good to you see you are still blogging actively and very nice story about the 5 years contract you got in recently.
I haven’t been able to read since the past 4 month, but I always remembered your stories about beginning a software company in the Middle East, as you remember, I’ve replied a couple of times to previous posts of yours.
I’m now planning to jump into the cold water myself after being here since 1.5 years and I was wondering whether you would be able to help me in answering a couple of questions I have, mainly around the commercial side of the business, your experience in order processing etc.
Would you be interested to help me, or even maybe meet me?
I would love to talk to someone with first hand experience.
Kind regards
Robert
September 20th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Robert - of course, I will answer your questions. Please send me an e-mail on roman dot konovalov at gmail dot com and I will reply back with my answers.
Anther option is that you might publish your questions as a comment for this article: http://www.romankonovalov.com/2007/05/20/starting-your-company-in-dubai/ so that all other people can benefit from it.