If you’re in B2B sales and work for a corporation, you’ve got an edge. That’s because you have at least 20 or more companies that would be compelled to meet with you!
The “secret” is to call on companies that depend on you and your company for their profits.
Let’s say that your company uses Xerox for all their copiers, or they use Arrowhead for their water stations, or maybe your annual sales kickoff meeting is held at Marriott Hotels. These are organizations that think of you and your company as a valued customer.
At my last company, I kept in close contact with our Accounts Payable department and had them send me a list of all our vendors. They sent me a “book” with everyone, from our phone company to our furniture vendor!
I used this book to launch my prospecting campaign and was able to set several good appointments. One memorable appointment was a meeting with two senior level executives at Salesforce.com (we used their CRM). They were much smaller then, but we knew they were an up-and-coming company.
I used our current business relationship to my advantage, and when the executives responded, it generally included a statement of, “Thanks for being a customer, we appreciate your business…”
There are least a couple of advantages to this sales strategy. First, if the company was searching for a solution you offered, they’ll likely feel more loyal to meet with you than a non-customer competitor.
Second, depending on how large your company is, and how important you are to the vendor, it gives you great leverage when calling into the “C-level”.
So the next time you’re wondering who to call, look around your office to see what products and services your company uses. It just might be a vendor that considers you a “valued customer,” and compared to your other prospecting activities, the chances of them being willing to meet with you are really high!
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