What are some ways that product development companies find clients?

[mrburnzie]

Most people (companies) start out with upwork as I did, but when going after beefier clients and larger projects, what are some ways that you have found clients? This question is for people that have actually gone through and found clients for their company/startup.

I have mostly seen that LinkedIn, Live events (like embedded world) and basic recommendations works, but what are some other methods, especially for product development (PCB design, firmware ect.) that also work?

[jonpaul]

Decades ago as Power electronics and electronic ballast consulting, 

attend industry conf
Do orig R&D, write a paper and submit to conf, IEEE, AES, NAB
 Word of mouth from satisfied clients

Nowadays with the internet/google info monopoly and YouTube DIY videos, every firm thinks they can do a job inhouse or just sub out to 1$/hr in China.

Even large firms in USA and EU now  subcontract out design work to other Asian or East Europe engineers for cheap  design.   In  EU /UK, USA unfortunately a smaller market.

Bon chance

Jon

j

[AndyC_772]

When I first started out, by far and away the most effective method was word of mouth via people I'd worked with as an employee. As soon as it became known that I was looking to take on freelance and consulting work, the phone started ringing. More often than not it was someone who personally knew my work, or who knew someone that did.

I've had some success at trade shows. You could try either dedicated electronics and manufacturing shows, or alternatively, shows dedicated to product areas you'd like to work on. They can be great opportunities to meet with senior people who wouldn't otherwise take your phone call. Take a pile of business cards, and if you have something relevant you can show off which will fit in a backpack, so much the better. You might not get any work straight away, but people will remember the guy with the <insert project here> that they met at <event>.

It's worth setting up a reasonably professional looking web site first. You may not actually get any enquiries through it directly, because actually getting your site to appear in search results is a whole ball game even on its own. However, people who find out about you through other means will check it out, and it adds a good deal of credibility. A business card and a web site are much more effective together than either is on its own.

For what it's worth, I'd seriously question whether "most" people expecting to make a good living as freelance engineers start with Upwork, or any other similar sites. I have no interest in competing with overseas engineers in a race to the bottom for both price and quality, and never considered them my competition. My customers need relevant expertise, experience, and on-site service - and that means we're serving entirely different markets.

[LOTO instruments]

In my country, most engineer customers are used to looking for products on online shopping platforms, so our main way is to open stores on shopping platforms. And support the traffic promotion fee of the platform. I've tried a few shows, and the results aren't very noticeable, maybe because the competition is too strong. I haven't explored other methods that are more efficient. I also tried to promote the products I made here, but the impact was very negative, and it was not a good way. Maybe share some experience and knowledge to let customers see you, but it is too much energy for you.

[m98]

One very successful strategy can be to be where your potential customers are, not where your competition already is. Don't be the 1001th EMS company at an electronics trade show

[coppercone2]

Decades ago as Power electronics and electronic ballast consulting, 

attend industry conf
Do orig R&D, write a paper and submit to conf, IEEE, AES, NAB
 Word of mouth from satisfied clients

Nowadays with the internet/google info monopoly and YouTube DIY videos, every firm thinks they can do a job inhouse or just sub out to 1$/hr in China.

Even large firms in USA and EU now  subcontract out design work to other Asian or East Europe engineers for cheap  design.   In  EU /UK, USA unfortunately a smaller market.

Bon chance

Jon

j

People are often not happy with the time difference required for meetings and the quality that comes out of across oceans contractors. I think experienced manager sees the value in more local services once they got burned by China a few times. The 'offload' managers are more and more starting to be seen as liabilities. But this is for more specialized things, very generic things that china is doing in volume are not what you want to compete with unless you are really confident... speed might help, if you can get something shipped extremely fast, that will put you ahead no matter the product in some cases, when people need something RIGHT NOW, they will not look at cost. It actually happens, but you won't have huge volume sales doing this, but there are people wishing for that service (not sure if its viable business practice, but you can defiantly get sales). Like having parts on hand to put something together as soon as its asked and not passing the buck to the distributor will get you points.

[hneve]

As a salesperson in a tech company specializing in product development, including PCB design and firmware, I've found LinkedIn to be an invaluable resource for finding new clients. What really changed the game for me was utilizing a tool called linked in viewer along with other features of LinkedIn Marketing Automation provided by SUSocial. This tool allows me to automatically view profiles, which piques interest and often leads people to check out my profile in return, creating an opportunity for a new connection. Moreover, the ability to schedule posts, automatically send connection requests, and join or un-join groups in my niche helps me target potential clients efficiently. Using SUSocial's automation tools, I can maintain active engagement on LinkedIn, increase my visibility, and attract clients who are looking for the specific services we offer, all while managing my time effectively.

[VK3DRB]

I don't find them, they find me. It is called WORD OF MOUTH. Never had to advertise.

[eleguy]

Pick a phone and introduce yourself to the potential customer. Here the homework pays back. Think in advance what and to which audience you are interested to do (=SELL) something. Try to reach the one who has authority to order something from you. If you the person you reached is not the one then ask from him/her whom you should call. Do not give up and alter your "sales talk" after every call. Hard work but pays back.

[Njk]

One advertisement channel is the component vendors. They're interested in selling more components, so if you'd designed something interesting out of the components bought from them, they're naturally happy to advertise your design for free, as an example of customer's design. It's easy to ask a small distributor about that, but a large silicon vendors like TI, Silabs, etc. can also publish your design as a reference design, depending on the scale. A couple of times, that resulted in new clients.