One of the various definitions of sell according to Merriam-Webster is “to develop a belief in the truth, value, or desirability of”. There can be numerous reasons for the success or failure of selling, which entirely depends on how well the sell was performed in the eyes of the buyer. With this as the base, the concept of selling differently originated, focusing on delivering solutions tailored to solve the core problems buyers’ face, rather than tailoring buyers’ problems to fit the solutions you want to sell.

Adopting the concept of selling differently is essential in the highly competitive software market, which offers countless options for buyers to choose from. In the same software world, selling differently became a hit, and as a result there are now multiple solutions available for offering flexible business models; automating and streamlining processes in back office applications; and most importantly basing the pricing on subscription and usage.

Pay-per-use or subscription based models have been in the market for quite a while. There are proven track records where companies moving to subscription based selling have seen revenue shoot up multi-folds rather that keeping their focus on one-time selling for high prices.

This strategy is not only the focus for ISVs (independent software vendors) but more and more IDVs (intelligent device vendors) are adopting it too by adding licensing functionalities to the software, which operates and manages their manufactured hardware.

According to Forbes, subscription-based models entails a relationship with customers, which must be fostered and developed to enable business growth and success. Not only is the subscription economy thriving due to usage data and real time insights, but there is no going back, and so much more is yet to come.