ColdFusion Muse

The Muse has Cash and He's Not Afraid to Use It!

The hardest thing about running a ColdFusion development shop is getting in front of the people who might need your help. Thousands of companies could use the expertise we offer but it can be very difficult to approach them. In spite of our culture, our transparency, our chameleon-like flexibility, our unique reputation, our high competency and our focus on communication and productivity, CTO's and CIO's tend to lump CF Webtools in with the outsourcing crowd. That's just not who we are. The truth is, once we gain the ear of someone who needs us we have an amazing record at closing the deal and retaining the customer. We alleviate the pitfalls of ColdFusion (oh yes, there are pitfalls) and allow the benefits to shine. We simply bring too much to the table to ignore.

So that's the Gordian knot the Muse has been trying to unravel for the last 18 months or so as we have doubled and tripled in size. How do I get the name and reputation of my fantastic company in front of the folks who need us? I mean, besides a holocaust cloak ("...Then why wasn't it listed among our assets?") what do we have to work with? My executive team and I have spent a few weeks mulling this over and we have concluded that perhaps our greatest asset is our connection with developers within the ColdFusion Community.

The truth is that when a developer who has developed for a decision maker recommends us to that individual he or she is far more likely to listen and take our pitch seriously. After all, finding good ColdFusion talent is difficult. In our experience it is referrals that seal the deal. We began thinking, both the Muse and the CF Webtools staff tends to be engaged in user groups, forums, lists, and events focused on ColdFusion. Instead of dedicating a big chunk of money to a marketing budget (of dubious return) we had an epiphany. Why spend money on promotions and ads when the connection we need is right in front of our cfnose. Let's pay our friends in the community for their referrals.

The Big Plan

So our big plan is simple, we are going to generously reward any developer who refers a company to us that subsequently becomes a customer. The rules are simple. First, you need to be a part of the ColdFusion developer community. We are not looking to line the pockets of recruiters. But if you are in IT and work with ColdFusion you are a candidate. Finally your lead must result in a sale for you to get paid. In short, for forwarding a name to us you could get a check in the mail - that's it! Read on for the nitty gritty details.

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