Big-Time Effort for big time sales


1. Focus on the company's current challenges and those it's likely to face. Then determine ways that your product or service can help the company not just meet those challenges, but overcome them. "Present a department head with a solution to a problem--don't just go in there and try to sell something

2. Find out where cutbacks have occurred. As corporations concentrate on core businesses, they often trim nonessential departments and outsource more work. This could be a chance for your company to supply them with a service that used to be done in-house.

3. Get the names of the managers in targeted departments. Talk to them about their jobs, particularly some of the obstacles they confront. Find an ally on the inside who can help facilitate a sale. Don't, says Sohie, concentrate solely on the purchasing agent. "Their job is to focus on price," he says. "You want to seek out the person who needs help doing his or her job."

4. Find a niche. Create a product or service that doesn't go head-to-head with that of larger suppliers. Rather, try to make a smaller inroad by offering something unique to a company. To help do this, Sohie suggests making a detailed list of all the benefits your product or service can bring to the larger company.

5. Keep in mind that big companies have suppliers calling on them every day. But if you're able--and ready--to provide something different that solves a specific problem, you'll stand out and, just as important, avoid a price war that you probably can't win anyway.

6. Use your size. Instead of being intimidated, emphasize the advantages of smaller companies over their larger competitors: speed, customization, service and access to top management. You're apt to be more eager for the business. Let the big boys know it.

7. Consider a partnership. Look for someone you can work with on this one sale--even if it's a competitor. Getting in the door is often worth the shared sale.

8. Be patient. Entrepreneurs usually aren't too keen on the slow, methodical way corporate America operates--in fact, it probably reminds them of their old job. Don't expect the quick answers you give or get from smaller companies.

Finally, be prepared to be scrutinized, probably like you've never been before. In a very deliberate, detailed manner, corporations are likely to go over financial and other information, particularly before committing an order to a company that, in their minds, is untested.

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