Yellow Dog Consulting

Sales & Marketing Consulting for solo-preneurs.

How Do I Target a Large Company?

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how to target a large companyA few weeks ago a friend emailed me asking for my totally biased opinion (my favorite kind to give!) about how to target a large company with no known contacts. It’s a great question and I thought it might be helpful to share here, if you’re trying to find a way into any size company and don’t have a contact…

I really want to go after (giant company’s) corporate staff. They are right across the street for God’s sake! Do you have suggestions for targeting them specifically?

The first thing that ALWAYS comes to mind for me in these situations:

Ask For Introductions

  • Use your LinkedIn to search for contacts and connections you have to anyone at the corporate level within said company. Shoot them a note and ask them if they’re comfortable making an introduction. In my experience, they either say yes and make the intro, or if they haven’t talked to that person in a while they’ll introduce me to someone else at the company or another connection that gets me closer to the business.
  • Ask on Facebook for folks who have connections. You know what departments you need connections to and can just ask: “My goal for Q3 is to start working with (giant company) – do you know anyone in (departments you want connections in) that you could introduce me to?”
  • This goes for all social media honestly, tweet it out, pretend people listen into the vastness of Google+, SnapChat it…
  • Use your Referral Partners – This is what they’re here for right? If you have a couple of people in your network who are great at supporting you and refer to you, ask them if they have any connections or can help make connections to get you closer. They may be heading to a networking event at said company. Or know someone who can get you there.
As I always say: I can’t help you if I don’t know what you need!
What do you do when you target a company and don’t have an obvious connection to get your foot in the door?

Pick One Thing and Own It

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Norm and his ballI was talking to someone the other day who heard me speak recently. They mentioned one thing I said that’s been working well for them. In my 2 hour presentation I obviously covered a TON of ideas and made a variety of recommendations. But their favorite recommendation and take away?

Pick One & OWN IT

During my presentation we talked about using social media as a follow up tool instead of a sales tool (more on that soon). I made recommendations for Twitter, LinkedIn and yes, even Facebook. But my recommendation was to start with one thing. Wherever you’re active, pick one and try it. Not just once, but a few times. Play around with it to see what works.

Overwhelm gets the best of all of us. When I present a 10 page task list to a client, they’re likely to ignore it. But if we walk through and prioritize it, that’s going to help to ease the overwhelm. Start with one thing.

I just started working with a client and they asked about Google and Facebook Ads. With all the OTHER marketing efforts we’re about to implement my recommendation was to wait and save the money right now. Let’s see how this work we’re doing together fits for their business first. If it brings them in business, great. If we need to add in Google ad words or Facebook ads, then we can try those out in the future (by them hiring a qualified person to manage it, because that’s way outside my scope).

When you go to a speaking engagement and like EVERYTHING the speaker says, start by implementing just one thing. Get that down, then add another one to the mix. I know this isn’t something new or crazy, you’ve heard it before. My challenge to you this week is to actually do it. One thing.

Let me know how it goes!

A Better List Building Strategy

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stack of business cardsLast month I was talking to a small business owner friend who was courting a potential client. After a meeting and good follow up practices, they ended up hiring someone else. Bummer, but it happens. What happened next though was a bit surprising…

A few weeks later my friend received the newsletter of this client that didn’t come to pass. As my brother would say, Baller Move.

This easily goes in the terrible newsletter etiquette category. My guess is that this potential client just exports their contacts and adds them to their newsletter each time without regard for the relationship. And that’s not how you should be building your newsletter list.

When it comes to newsletter list building, here’s my recommendations:

  • Automatically Include

    • Clients (past & present)
    • Prospects
    • Referral Partners
    • Friends & Family can also fall into this list for some people 

  • Ask First

    • Your Database
    • Networking connections
    • That stack of business cards in a box in your closet

If you are working with a prospective client and have multiple conversations with them, they’ll most likely be in your CRM (because you have one right?) and I think they should be added to your newsletter list as well, because they’ve engaged with you and have had some interest in your services. It’s a sort of implied consent. Now, if it’s a cold lead that you want to make a client and they haven’t responded/engaged with you, then don’t do this.

Building and growing a newsletter list is one of the biggest challenges businesses have. Take a minute to consider your newsletter  list building practices and let’s make sure you’re not “accidentally” doing something illegal.