If you\u2019re reaching out to companies to try and get new business for your product or service, it can be a bit of a minefield deciding who to contact. Sourcing the companies you want to target is easy. Or, at least it should be if you\u2019ve done your homework and know what problem your product or service solves and who would benefit most from that. That\u2019s not the tricky part. The tricky part is exactly who to reach out to. With a little bit of research on LinkedIn, it\u2019s easily possible to find the names and the contact details of people who work for an organisation but after sifting through all the job titles, who should you be paying particular attention to? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In most situations, this would make sense right? If someone wanted to contact your business trying to sell a product or service, they\u2019d try to get hold of you. The problem is, in this world of multinationals, the owner is incredibly difficult to get hold of. There are a million things that the owner has to do and spending time talking to someone they\u2019ve never met before isn\u2019t one of them. There is of course also the very real possibility that the owner no longer works in the business. They may have left the running of the business in the hands of a trusted employee and are enjoying the profits without having to put in the long hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Again, this person is super busy and not open to unsolicited contact. It\u2019s also worth bearing in mind that they are probably not an expert in your field and it may actually be counter-productive to pursue them. That\u2019s because if you get an outright \u2018no\u2019 from the CEO it\u2019s going to be very difficult to get anyone else to let you try again. With this in mind, it\u2019s probably convenient that CEOs are so difficult to get hold of. More often than not, the CEO is protected by gatekeepers that are part PA and part dragon. It\u2019s their job to ensure that you stay away from their boss and given that they\u2019ve gone to these lengths, you probably should stay away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we\u2019re getting somewhere. It\u2019s the procurement officers\u2019 job to look out for things that the company needs and acquire them. So, if you can arrive as the solution, you make their job a lot easier and this could be a good way in. It won\u2019t be a deal there and then of course and it will in fact probably take several rounds with different people to get to the stage of actually thrashing out the details. If you see this job title in your LinkedIn research, make a note of their name, you\u2019re going to want to speak to this person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, the department head is likely to know what the company actually needs more so than anyone we\u2019ve already spoken about. That\u2019s because they are effectively on the \u2018factory floor\u2019. All the people above them see is that work wasn\u2019t done but the department head can tell you why work wasn\u2019t done and if your solution solves that problem, you\u2019re in a very good place. The department head will have people above them who will need convincing but they will be listened to and as an inside person, can reach levels of the hierarchy that it\u2019s almost impossible to do from the outside. Be prepared for the fact that you may have to do a proof of concept at each upward stage of your negotiations but if this ends in a good sale then it will all have been worthwhile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t forget that you probably already know people who could get you an introduction to any company you\u2019re interested in. It could be an ex-colleague, a friend or a family member but always remember that an introduction is worth a hundred cold calls. And, if the introducer has a strong influence within the company it may open more doors for you and provide you with more opportunity than any other route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n