Not So I and Myghty

Some of the best sales calls I make come from leads in the financial press, technology articles and advertisements in the recruitment section of leading computing magazines.

Software companies, several investment banks, and a leading media broadcasting company are all clients gained through this approach. The logic is simple. The more you know about the client, their marketplace and their business, the more likely you are to engage the decision-maker or influencer in a meaningful dialogue.

More of the ‘You and Yours’ (meaning the clients) less of the ‘I and My’.
Make the sales call a dialogue not a monologue.

We get approached a lot by companies looking to partner with us as we operate in a specialist niche marketplace. They come on strong, the I and Myghty approach. You know, how big they are, the partnerships they have, the size of resources they can bring into play. To date I’ve never had anyone ask “ … and what would you ideally look for in a partnership?”

The “You and Yours” means taking phrases from the clients phrase book and using them rather than using your own.

A client may use the term ‘software engineer ’ instead of ‘developer ’. He may recognise ‘Implementation Specialist ’ instead of ‘system integrator’. The term ‘Internet booking engine’ means a lot more than ‘ reservation software ’.
‘Application components ’ better than ‘software’.

All these terms of references are gained during your research of the client. You are building up a picture of them, their world and their associations with technical jargon. Having gained sufficient parts of the jigsaw you are then better placed to make that initial cold call. More warm than cold.

One potential prospect recently remarked - “ well obviously you’ve spoken to someone else in the company ” implying that I had inside knowledge of how the software development team worked. Some pieces of the jigsaw only.

A recent client came as a result of a throwaway piece of information from one developer. “We need to know about JSP as we are getting a new release of the software application we’re using.” Whenever I get an incomplete piece of information I usually bounce back. “ A new release of the application software….?”

“ Yes we’re using DataXYZ ” . Again an incomplete piece of the puzzle. “ Can you spell that?”

Having gained that vital piece of information I was able to research the website of the software supplier, identify the product range that used this technology and approach not only the software supplier, but also similar clients with a very specific sales pitch.

“ Mr Jones, I am calling from …..I am currently working with several companies in the your sector who are using a JSP release of the DataXYZ product running in the application server space. We are putting together a customised service for their software engineers developing in this technology. How familiar are you with this (development technology), is this an area you are working in ?”

If you have done your research this will yield a very positive response.

[It is the sales equivalent of a Cruise missile going through a bedroom window in down town Baghdad. BOOM!]

An additional bonanza was the software suppliers client list and case studies in detail on their website. Warm leads - I love ‘em!
Cold leads? Can ‘em!