Every Pitcher tells a Story

I read stories all the time to my three young children, so I guess I have more than my fair share of practice. A new salesperson once accompanied me on a visit to a potential client. On the way I stopped at one of those big yellow skips. On top of the skip there was a computer carton. On top of the carton was a label. On the label was a company address and contact details. I took out my note- book and jotted down the details much to the surprise of my colleague.

Subsequent research gave me a phone number. On contacting the named individual my opening line was " Hi, Steve , I'm calling from ….. I got your name from a box on top of a skip." Turned out he was a decision-maker and was interested in the services we offer. Be creative with your leads.

Every company article, every recruitment ad, every press release for a company tells a story about the company’s sector, the technology and their people.

I had no idea what ' middle-tier, component-based development ' was until I told a prospective client I was genuinely interested in the work he was doing in this area. Now I know. Similar clients are doing similar things. They like to hear stories about what we have done for their competitors.

As the story builds up and you get used to the pitch; you form a picture of the typical client. Tight time scales on software projects, support issues, client pressure, limited budgets. If you can address some of these needs and issues for your potential client you're well on the way to signing them up.

[We're back to the saleperson coming up for air from a cold call without fear of the sales bends.]

It's not so much about your product or service, it's really all about your client's needs and how you can tailor your product or service to solve them. You need to research the client, the sector, the technology. You need to be a detective. You need to tell the story.

A recent Financial Times article announced a major software group was adopting a multi-channel portal architecture based on XML. Several months ago the delivery channel was based on a different architecture and the whole development operation was outsourced. I had approached the Technical Director. Zilch!

However, things move fast in internet space. Now the tables had turned and development was now done internally. How to get past the PA? "It's regarding the XML multi-channel project” IN! A week later we had signed up the client for some initial work, with more to follow. Be both genuine and genius.

Oh, and by the way, have you heard the one about…………