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?

Sales Lessons From a 3rd Grader

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jog a thon!A couple of weeks ago I was visiting with a friend and her 3rd grader had his jog-a-thon sponsor form on the kitchen table. I asked him what it was, hoping he’d get the hint and ask me to donate. After some coaching from mom he asked if I’d like to donate. I said OF COURSE!

He explained to me that if I donated $9 per lap and he ran 9 laps that’d be $81! (Mostly he was just showing off his mad multiplication skills.) So, I asked how many laps he thought he would run. And he had no idea, and didn’t seem to remember how many he’d ran in the past. So, I told him to put me in for $5 a lap. His math estimates seemed safe enough, I figured he’d be somewhere between 5-10 laps, it’d be fine.

Cue to Friday morning and a text from my friend. “Dude. We may want to change your jog-a-thon donation to a flat rate. The poor kids are trying to keep warm in the rain and are running their asses off.” I told her I was sure it’d be fine, how many laps had he run? How much time was left ?(4 laps in 7 minutes, 23 minutes to go…) Well, it’ll be fine.

15 laps later I learned a flat rate might be a safer way to go in the future.

What does this have to do with your business?

How often has someone tried to renegotiate the rate when it gets too high? If you agreed to it up front, you need to pay your bill. And yes, get an estimate. I could have pushed more on his past lap average, or just done a flat rate. But changing my donation in the 11th hour is a weaselly move. When I’ve seen business owners try to change things half way through a project, it’s always a red flag.

Being straight forward and honest is always good if you realize the scope is more than you quoted for. This is why a contract is a great idea – here’s the rate, here’s the estimate, here’s what’s included. If the estimate changes, or you want to add something else in, that’ll be more or changes the terms of the contract. Every time I skip a contract with a client (“it’ll be fine, it’s a small project,” “she’s friend!”) it bites me in the ass.

Learn something from this awesome (and financially well supported in his jog-a-thon) 3rd grader. Get it up front, in writing and then run your ass off to make the most of it!

I Followed Up, Now It’s Your Turn

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Norm is Waiting for Your responseI got an email from a friend the other day:

If you ever need a topic, I think you should do a courtesy of business email. Close the loop. How to decline services. That kind of thing. I’ve had so many people just drop off the face of the planet lately for whatever reason. It’s so rude.

This is one of the more frustrating aspects of running a small business. I’ve followed up and done my part, why do you have to be so Pacific Northwest Passive Aggressive and ignore me? Plus, if you tell me no I probably won’t come around nagging you every couple of weeks which is driving you crazy. But what do you say?

Be HONEST

  1. “Thanks Elizabeth, we’ve found someone who’s a better fit for our needs right now. I appreciate your time.”
    • I’ve received this email before and I was totally fine with it. They wanted someone who also does stuff I don’t. I get it.
  2. “Thanks Elizabeth, after reviewing your proposal this isn’t in our budget right now.” You’re super expensive and I can’t believe anyone would ever hire you.
    • If budget is the issue know that they’ll probably respond with recommendations to make it work. But if you’re coming in at their lowest price point then they may realize you aren’t ready for them yet.
  3. “Thanks Elizabeth, I’ve looked at my goals and need to wait a few months before getting going. I’ll contact you when I’m ready”
    • Use this response if you mean it. If you get a proposal and realize it’s not in the budget, OR if something happens and your goals have changed and you truly do need to push this off, then say so. And either offer to follow up with them, or ask them to follow up with you in a few months. “If you want to check back in 3 months, that’d be great.” This also puts the responsibility on them – which is one of my favorite ways to get things off my plate and make people work to earn my money!

Be honest and straight forward. I don’t need your excuses. If it’s not in your budget right now, that’s okay. If after talking you realized you can do it yourself (or someone on your team can) that’s okay. If we didn’t hit it off and you aren’t sold on me, that’s okay. But as a business owner this falls into that treat others as you’d like to be treated category.