How We Land Software Contracts Internationally

From Germany to America, from Perth to Melbourne, people keep asking me how we land software contracts with companies all around the world. My answer: Because we are that F****** good.

Let me explain.

A long time ago I read a fantastic book called “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” by Cal Newport. As obvious within the title of the book, it discusses the premise that when one focuses on skills and ability then other people, whether businesses or clients, will find it hard to ignore them.

Let me give an example, I ask 1000 local league soccer players to line up shoulder to shoulder. I turn to my friend Matt and ask him to pick one player to captain his team. Before he picks I ask one more player to join the line, Cristiano Ronaldo, one of the best players in modern era soccer.

Who will my friend pick out of the 1001 players? One of the best players known to mankind, or 1 of the 1000 average local league players?

Cristiano Ronaldo. Full stop.

Who the heck is Sanico?

They say you can’t sell a secret, and I agree. But how do you build a reputation for yourself with a remote company founded in Adelaide? How do you build a reputation for yourself not only in your local neighbourhood but the whole online world?

Number 1: We show our face EVERYWHERE online to build authenticity.

We post our face on,

Number 2: We share the work we perform for our clients which demonstrates our expertise.

We wrote about,

Number 3: We publish helpful reels on Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms which helps to show our personalities and expertise.

We filmed,

Number 4: We continuously request clients to leave reviews to serve as a form of social proof to new potential clients.

Business owners such as,

… the list of things keeps going.

Ok | Pause | Stop | Absorb

Let me summarise it here and now: The more authentic and transparent a business looks online, the more people trust the legitimacy of the brand.

After reading the above, are you surprised we land jobs all around the world?

But But Online Freelancer Platforms

I remember when we first started Sanico people continually recommended freelancer platforms such as Airtasker, UpWork, and Freelancer. All recommended by people who never started a business but considered it a revolutionary idea. Transformational of sorts. I always thanked people for their suggestions but the honest answer was: we tried every single platform and found no success.

Before I explain, let me state another favourite saying of mine: If it looks too good to be true than it probably is.

Those platforms attract a particular type of client, one that wants to pay almost nothing but expects the highest quality of work. They publish a stupid cheap price and receive over 100 bids from average contractors around the world, in particular from 3rd world countries. They hire the “cheap” contractor with glee but in the end they find extreme disappointment in the results. My aunty always said to me if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

Paradoxically freelancer platforms generate a ton of work for us without even having a profile on them. Huh? That makes no sense, right? Hear me out. Businesses complete work through the platforms, receive subpar work, and then realise their error. They then search online for a professional and arrive at my door step, battered and defeated. I welcome them in, give them a blanket and a warm soup, and allow them to recount their poor experiences with subpar contractors that cost almost nothing.

I kid you not, this happens regularly.

See the Opposite, Judge for Yourself

To deeply understand further my method, I recommend to go on Google and type in “software company near me”. Click on a few websites, notice how generic and overly corporate they feel. Better yet nearly no business owner shows their portrait, or even worse they upload cartoon incarnations of themselves. Cheesy animations, poorly designed websites, a faceless or unmaintained blog, a dead Instagram or Facebook, AI generated content, and the list goes on.

Now go to my home page sanico.com.au and see the difference. We show our faces immediately, we write all our own content inhouse with NOTHING written by AI, we give a personal and unique touch, we maintain a blog with relevant and opinionated posts, and we demonstrate our previous work.

No Tricks, Only Skills

I wrote this article because people always drop their jaws when I say I work with clients all around the world, almost with a hint of disbelief. No tricks exists, we built a reputation for ourselves through hard work, unbelievable customer service, and sharing our authentic selves online.

No matter what, I continue to receive the same question: “how can an Adelaide company work with clients around the world, why don’t businesses use someone in their own country or state?“.

I find it difficult to answer this question as they must allow me to speak for several hours with lots of drawings and hand gestures. To save myself the burden I will now say: “read this post on my blog”.