“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try one more time”- Edison
You’ve been handed a fresh lead from your marketing department or maybe you sourced it yourself.
Based on your initial research and due diligence, you know this company has the perfect profile that fits your solution to a tee. Naturally, you assume you’ll woo them with your bells and win them over with your whistles once you find the decision maker.
But a few weeks into the act of penetrating the account, you’re getting nowhere.
Just this morning, I had a conference call with a company doing over $100 billion in annual revenue. On the call was their Head of Litigation, a paralegal and four members of their Procurement/ Strategic Sourcing team. I’ve been reaching out to them since August 7, 2017 and in that time, didn’t get a single call back or acknowledgment of my sent emails. Today, I ran a cross-functional call with five senior-level executives who collectively have the power to make a Go or No Decision.
Yesterday, I received Go confirmation from another large outfit on a call with their attorney. According to my CRM notes, the first call into that company was April 4, 2017 and prior to our very recent communication, I hadn’t heard a peep.
This piece is being written on Aug 29, 2018; you can do the math between initial outreach and actual contact.
As you evaluate your B2B Sales meddle to see if you’ve got the juice to persevere, remember: Silence is not a decision.
Acceptance
The first step is acceptance. Accept the fact it may take weeks or months just to get someone’s attention and that alone doesn’t guarantee you’ll win the business. As you reach out, stay focused on the end-goal and not the amount of time it’s taking to get there. Continue to add value until it’s recognized.
A common inaction for most salespeople is the give-up. They fold before they’re presented with the opportunity to present; they choose to lose.
There are always exceptions. You may get to your SPOC on the first call and get traction quickly. Be assured though, this is a definitely an exception when prospecting on this scale.
Or, after reading the latest online piece on How to Get Every Prospect on the Planet to Reply to Your Emails and Even Return the Calls You Never Made, maybe you stick the landing with all outbound communication cos you’re just that good. Kudos on being a unicorn.
A friend of mine, who’s a brilliant salesperson, once put a single shoe in the mail and sent it to a decision-maker with a note stating – “Just trying to get my foot in the door”.
That’s awesome action but before jump-starting your single shoe-shopping spree at the local Goodwill, consider who the prospect is and how they’ll react.
Split Decision
I’ll admit, there have been desperate times when I sprayed and prayed. Yep, I emailed everyone up and down a department with an identical message hoping for a miracle because “it’s a numbers game”. That method as you probably guessed doesn’t work. You Live | You Learn.
Conversely, there are some salespeople who strictly believe in singling out one executive and bombarding them until they get through.
After hundreds of won B2B contracts, my experience is that both reaching out to multiple execs and sharp-shooting have yielded equal success. The key to choosing which method works best comes down to understanding the corporate structure of your target through research. And, of course – account activity history. If after months of calling on one exec to no avail, diversify.
Diversifying Your Efforts
Large corporations have Procurement departments with dozens of underlings working for the CPO or VP of Strategic Sourcing. Finance may have Regional, North American, APAC and Global CFO’s, Controllers or Treasurers. Legal may be a well-oiled machine touting dozens of attorneys who specialize in multiple domains like HR, Litigation (IP or Commercial), Finance, IT or Procurement Law. IT will have their CIO’s, IT Directors, Chief Security Officers but sometimes their responsibilities overlap and you’ll actually need to target IT Architecture, Infrastructure or Info Systems Management.
Even if you’re familiar with the distinctions between these positions, all corporations don’t follow the same parameters.
Although lead gen databases will give you names, titles and contact info, those aren’t guarantees that’s the decision maker. Social networks are great tools but sometimes, you need confirmation through conversation.
One way to speed up the search for your champion is to contact an Executive Assistant.
But, take into account, EA’s are often uninformed as to what their superiors’ responsibilities actually are. Sometimes, their jobs are all admin, keeping the likes of you away from the brass and leaving everyday at 4:59 PM sharp.
Initiating With Caution
EA’s will take a message and pass it on to who they believe to be the appropriate point of contact. When your message reaches its intentional unintentional party – if it’s not on that exec’s purview, they ignore it. They simply don’t have time to do your job for you. So as you continue to leave voicemail and send countless emails to the wrong person, they’ve labeled you as a nuisance and have no intention of acknowledging your pesky presence.
Weeks go by and you pull the give up card. “Well, I guess they’re just not that into me” you say.
After months without activity, that account gets transferred to another team member who embarrasses you by closing the deal without breaking a sweat.
Did you loosen the jar for them?
No. You weren’t thorough in your research and you probably botched the approach. To add insult to injury, the prospect never once mentions you despite the fact you’re clearly from the same company. Not only did you fail to penetrate, you weren’t memorable. It’s like you never happened.
I describe the scenario in detail because it’s happened to me.
If you’re going to use the assistants as a springboard, take their direction with a grain of salt.
Choose Your Path to the Top
Corporations are huge and the people who actually make the decisions aren’t always perfectly in line with the org chart you see on their website or lead gen database.
When setting up accounts, be sure to include two or three levels of contacts across at least two departments related to your products.
Remember, it takes multiple heads to come to a consensus because of the cross-functionality of modern-day sales solutions.
By using proper sales techniques and pinging each group with a tailored message, you create a buzz and after awhile, might receive an email like this one I got last week.
Hi CK-
Please let Sean (Director of Strategic Sourcing) and I (Senior Corporate Counsel) know when you are able to discuss this matter next week.
Signature,
Senior Corp Counsel
EOM [end of message]
This request for a conference call is key to advancing this Sale.
Tricks of the Trade
Some salespeople are timid about calling multiple execs within the same company or department. Power through that fear by remembering the value-add and use this method below to gain advantage.
When emailing or calling the second or third contact (once you’ve exhausted the primary), mention that you’ve also contacted First Name | Last Name in Finance or First Name | Last Name in Procurement. Own it!
That executive will realize that yours is a wide-reaching solution that affects multiple departments and is therefore worth looking into. Additionally, by referencing other executives, you’re being transparent in your sales efforts while subtly prompting a counter action by contacting one exec that reports to another. The subordinate will act to avoid any negative repercussions from their boss. That action involves contacting you for information. When that happens, you’ve got an opening.
Always try and foster relationships with Managers and Directors even if they don’t make the decisions. They can still influence the sale while feeding you info that’s relevant to your goal.
The more you communicate with a wide array of people, the more intel you’ll gather. Each conversation and exchange becomes a part of your education. By default, your CRM’s note section begins to grow as your sleuth investigative techniques slowly start to pay off.
What’s funny about selling into large corporations is you’ll rarely be ordered to cease and desist if you communicate responsibly. Corporate peeps find it’s easier to ghost you rather than take the time to ask you to back off.
Why? They know most salespeople give up after a handful of attempts. Instead, they’ll let you bang your head against the wall a few times until you stop in the name of no love.
When Values Are Clear, Decisions Are Easier
We, the salespeople know that persistence leads to opportunity but we don’t always practice what we preach. A sure-fire way to remain vigilant in the quest for decision makers is by caring about what you sell.
If you care about your product and understand the target company, you know they’ll benefit from your service. By believing in your offering’s positive impact power, repeating outbound efforts to reach a decision maker over the course of months becomes easier.
So, Keep Pounding those leads (old and new) without giving power to the give up. Prospects will eventually pick up what you’re laying down.
It works if you work it.
Coming Soon: The Truth About How to Find Decision Makers in B2B Sales (Part 2: New School – Social Selling)