How to sell to large companies: 16 tips. Part 1
When selling their services or software products, large enterprises and corporations need to develop a completely different approach than the one used with small and medium-sized businesses. We in Alconost have translated for you the advice of Tim Nguyen, who built his career selling various products to companies in the medium, large and corporate sectors, including credit unions and banks throughout America. On average, the amount of the transaction was 500 thousand dollars annually, while the worst result was 25 thousand, and the best - 7 million dollars per year. We think that the advice of Nguyen applies not only to the American market - but to him in particular.
According to the US Bureau of Statistics, approximately 6.064 million enterprises with full-time employees are currently registered in the country, and only 0.32% of them are classified as large businesses or corporations. Below are the detailed numbers:
Strive to get them at all costs.
Let's talk directly. You never sell anything to a firm . You sell to people who work in a company. It is your relationship with a potential buyer that ultimately gives a result, positive or negative.
')
Suppose you are selling a product with a certain value. People buy from those they like and whom they trust. There is no short cut to success; it just takes some time. That is why, on average, the sales cycle ranges from 6 to 24 months, and that is why there are transactions that you never close.
Selling various projects to companies gives you a very rewarding experience. Over time, you will build wonderful personal relationships with your customers, and many of them can be called good friends.
To successfully complete a transaction, you need to have an idea of ​​how certain decisions are made. If you do not understand the essence of the process, successful sales will come late, and it may happen that they do not come at all.
Each company is unique, but remember that there are three types of decision-makers you should be aware of:
As you can see, often not everything depends on the general director or the president. In a large company, several employees can work at once who directly influence the final decision and the signing of the contract. You just need to identify a “key” person or group of people.
As a result, a logical question arises: “ How can you immediately go to the very person who makes decisions? "
And this, my friends, is the “million dollar” question, to which we will try to find the answer with the help of 16 tips presented below.
When selling to companies, start with people you already know personally.
If you are new to corporate sales and have never sold anything before, your main goal is to provide yourself with good recommendations for the company with which you want to make a deal. An acquaintance from the university who is now working as a client relations manager and working closely with the company we need can help you with this. Another option is another seller who does not compete with you directly.
Squeeze the most out of your connections.
Your goal is to meet the right people, share your business ideas with them and get good recommendations that they can provide to other companies. In essence, you need to meet successful professionals in your industry — people who will believe in your product and help you penetrate the target companies.
Of course, if you already have any sales experience and established contacts that you sold or tried to sell something to, start with them. Use all your contacts in the right industry - as many people as possible should know about your new project.
Your first buyer is likely to be a small or medium-sized company, but this first transaction will help you in the future to reach out to representatives of large and corporate sectors. As soon as you get your first client - we believe a satisfied client - you will have a supporter of your business, which will serve as a “live recommendation” for the second, and maybe even the hundredth, buyer.
Especially important is the first sale for startups. It will prove that you are developing a real business for real buyers, will help reduce initial costs and attract investors.
Good news: your first customer probably understands his “uniqueness.” Anyone who trusts in a completely new company wants to help you grow.
"You will have everything in life that you only want if you, as far as you can, help other people to get what they want." - Hilary "Zig" Ziglar (Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar).
In the business world, people work with other people. Your goal is to help your friends build a serious mutually beneficial relationship. Do not be lazy to introduce people to each other, help them develop the newly established relationship.
Remember, when you recommend someone, you fix your recommendation with a seal with your own name. Make sure that the new acquaintance will be interesting and useful for both participants, you should not “build bridges” just for the sake of quantity. To mediate a bad acquaintance is much worse than just keeping silent.
Do not stop to help only customers. Look for the opportunity to introduce other sellers, partners and even competitors among themselves.
You should not act only as a "selling" manager, help people understand the problem.
You will never sell a product by itself, you sell primarily a solution to a problem. This means that your product is not at all the main goal for the buyer. Its main goal is the qualities and tools that the application carries. Will it solve the actual problem of the client?
As an example, you are not selling a CRM system, you are selling a solution that allows you to get new potential opportunities .
If you focus on the problems of your customers, you will help solve them. But for this you need to be an expert in your business. Your goal is to become a valuable specialist complementing the company, and not just a sales manager. It is very important to be the very person to whom customers call immediately, as soon as they discover any problem in your profile - they know that it is you who can solve it. If you really want to become a valuable specialist, help your customers identify and solve even those problems that they are not even aware of.
You can not just impersonate a qualified specialist. You need to fully immerse yourself in the world of your customers. Understand industry cycles, current needs, existing opportunities, constantly changing environments.
At the same time, the proposal of solutions implies not only one talk. Listen and try to understand the client in order to offer the best solution to the problem. Your questions should be more than answers.
If you run your business in a particular industry, participation in industry-specific non-profit organizations (such as associations and trade unions) will give you a great opportunity to gain new knowledge and meet other people working in this field. The most important thing is the sequence. Your goal is to become an active participant in the organization, then regularly make a feasible contribution to its activities and, eventually, gain a foothold there as an “old-timer”, without whom it is impossible to imagine an association.
In the US, many different organizations are registered. Some of them conduct their activities within a certain region, while others focus on issues of national scale. You do not need to join all associations. To get started, select some of the most interesting for you and plan to visit them in the future.
The first meeting, which will need to attend, may seem to you somewhat boring, because many people will be strangers to you. One way or another, you can always find places to help fix this unpleasant situation - the hall, separate cabins for community members, as well as small parties and training seminars.
Having mastered a union and taking part in several events held by the organization, take a step forward and try to get into the committee. Business associations always need help attracting new members and / or sponsors, organizing various events and other issues.
It will also serve as a good indication that you are not just chasing a long ruble, but, on the contrary, you support the industry as a whole and are interested in its development.
The best way to present yourself and your products to any company as a potential customer is to use the help of those who have already been able to make a deal with it! Find such contacts and share your product with them.
Those salespeople who already have access to your potential customer are aware of their current problems and the needs of the company — this is especially true if they additionally act as consultants (see tip 4). If your partners can identify a problem that you can solve, they will recommend you, and many of them will do it for free.
Imagine that you are selling an application to monitor employees. Team up with a company that provides services for managing internal payments (salaries, social contributions, etc.) and tell us how your product is unique. Surely, one of the company's customers will complain about the lack of organization of the accounting of working hours, and then the partner will immediately be able to recommend your services.
You can also go further by combining calls to potential customers and marketing campaigns.
When I worked in a company that sold a platform for organizing a business network, I had the opportunity to send out my business proposal using a partner database of email addresses. Of course, we repaid this company with the same coin, talking about their services to our customers.
Narrowly directed publications about the problems of a particular industry are one of the best ways to “reach out” to potential buyers. Given the fact that specialized media are trusted, you will have good chances to increase your brand awareness and get new opportunities for development.
Constantly remind the editors of specialized resources of your existence and always be ready to answer questions from online publications when they need a personal opinion of a specialist or any help in preparing a publication. If you do not have time for all this, but there is enough financial resources, use PR agencies that work in the sector you need.
The continuation of the advice of Tim Nguen we will publish in just a couple of days. Do you consider these recommendations applicable in your work?
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Small, medium, large firms: what's the difference?
According to the US Bureau of Statistics, approximately 6.064 million enterprises with full-time employees are currently registered in the country, and only 0.32% of them are classified as large businesses or corporations. Below are the detailed numbers:
| Small companies | Medium-sized companies | Large companies | Corporations | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Companies total | 6 000 000 | 44,000 | 9,000 | 11,000 |
| Employees of all | <250 | 250 - 500 | 500 - 1 000 | > 1000 |
| Sales on average per year | 1.6 million dollars. | 41 million dollars. | 159 million dollars. | 2.7 billion dollars. |
Connections decide everything
Strive to get them at all costs.
Let's talk directly. You never sell anything to a firm . You sell to people who work in a company. It is your relationship with a potential buyer that ultimately gives a result, positive or negative.
')
Suppose you are selling a product with a certain value. People buy from those they like and whom they trust. There is no short cut to success; it just takes some time. That is why, on average, the sales cycle ranges from 6 to 24 months, and that is why there are transactions that you never close.
Selling various projects to companies gives you a very rewarding experience. Over time, you will build wonderful personal relationships with your customers, and many of them can be called good friends.
Understand how decisions are made
To successfully complete a transaction, you need to have an idea of ​​how certain decisions are made. If you do not understand the essence of the process, successful sales will come late, and it may happen that they do not come at all.
Each company is unique, but remember that there are three types of decision-makers you should be aware of:
- The person who makes the final decision. This is usually the CEO or president, it can also be the head of a particular department or the person in charge of a special project - it all depends on the organizational chart of the company.
- An employee of the company who makes the decision himself, but his choice must be confirmed by the board of directors. In this case, even if the decision has already been made, you need to wait for the next meeting of shareholders or even a new business cycle (there may be several, depending on the current priorities of the enterprise). This is particularly noticeable in relatively complex business areas, such as banking and insurance.
- A group of decision makers. Even if the last word remains with one person, he strongly relies on the decisions taken jointly by the team, and in some cases it all ends in the search for a compromise that suits the whole group.
As you can see, often not everything depends on the general director or the president. In a large company, several employees can work at once who directly influence the final decision and the signing of the contract. You just need to identify a “key” person or group of people.
As a result, a logical question arises: “ How can you immediately go to the very person who makes decisions? "
And this, my friends, is the “million dollar” question, to which we will try to find the answer with the help of 16 tips presented below.
1. Start with familiar people.
When selling to companies, start with people you already know personally.
If you are new to corporate sales and have never sold anything before, your main goal is to provide yourself with good recommendations for the company with which you want to make a deal. An acquaintance from the university who is now working as a client relations manager and working closely with the company we need can help you with this. Another option is another seller who does not compete with you directly.
Squeeze the most out of your connections.
Your goal is to meet the right people, share your business ideas with them and get good recommendations that they can provide to other companies. In essence, you need to meet successful professionals in your industry — people who will believe in your product and help you penetrate the target companies.
Of course, if you already have any sales experience and established contacts that you sold or tried to sell something to, start with them. Use all your contacts in the right industry - as many people as possible should know about your new project.
2. Get your first customer.
Your first buyer is likely to be a small or medium-sized company, but this first transaction will help you in the future to reach out to representatives of large and corporate sectors. As soon as you get your first client - we believe a satisfied client - you will have a supporter of your business, which will serve as a “live recommendation” for the second, and maybe even the hundredth, buyer.
Especially important is the first sale for startups. It will prove that you are developing a real business for real buyers, will help reduce initial costs and attract investors.
Good news: your first customer probably understands his “uniqueness.” Anyone who trusts in a completely new company wants to help you grow.
3. Be a link
"You will have everything in life that you only want if you, as far as you can, help other people to get what they want." - Hilary "Zig" Ziglar (Hilary Hinton "Zig" Ziglar).
In the business world, people work with other people. Your goal is to help your friends build a serious mutually beneficial relationship. Do not be lazy to introduce people to each other, help them develop the newly established relationship.
Remember, when you recommend someone, you fix your recommendation with a seal with your own name. Make sure that the new acquaintance will be interesting and useful for both participants, you should not “build bridges” just for the sake of quantity. To mediate a bad acquaintance is much worse than just keeping silent.
Do not stop to help only customers. Look for the opportunity to introduce other sellers, partners and even competitors among themselves.
4. Solve the problems of others
You should not act only as a "selling" manager, help people understand the problem.
You will never sell a product by itself, you sell primarily a solution to a problem. This means that your product is not at all the main goal for the buyer. Its main goal is the qualities and tools that the application carries. Will it solve the actual problem of the client?
As an example, you are not selling a CRM system, you are selling a solution that allows you to get new potential opportunities .
If you focus on the problems of your customers, you will help solve them. But for this you need to be an expert in your business. Your goal is to become a valuable specialist complementing the company, and not just a sales manager. It is very important to be the very person to whom customers call immediately, as soon as they discover any problem in your profile - they know that it is you who can solve it. If you really want to become a valuable specialist, help your customers identify and solve even those problems that they are not even aware of.
You can not just impersonate a qualified specialist. You need to fully immerse yourself in the world of your customers. Understand industry cycles, current needs, existing opportunities, constantly changing environments.
At the same time, the proposal of solutions implies not only one talk. Listen and try to understand the client in order to offer the best solution to the problem. Your questions should be more than answers.
5. Participate in events
If you run your business in a particular industry, participation in industry-specific non-profit organizations (such as associations and trade unions) will give you a great opportunity to gain new knowledge and meet other people working in this field. The most important thing is the sequence. Your goal is to become an active participant in the organization, then regularly make a feasible contribution to its activities and, eventually, gain a foothold there as an “old-timer”, without whom it is impossible to imagine an association.
In the US, many different organizations are registered. Some of them conduct their activities within a certain region, while others focus on issues of national scale. You do not need to join all associations. To get started, select some of the most interesting for you and plan to visit them in the future.
The first meeting, which will need to attend, may seem to you somewhat boring, because many people will be strangers to you. One way or another, you can always find places to help fix this unpleasant situation - the hall, separate cabins for community members, as well as small parties and training seminars.
6. Join the headquarters of the association
Having mastered a union and taking part in several events held by the organization, take a step forward and try to get into the committee. Business associations always need help attracting new members and / or sponsors, organizing various events and other issues.
It will also serve as a good indication that you are not just chasing a long ruble, but, on the contrary, you support the industry as a whole and are interested in its development.
7. Cooperate with sellers who are not your direct competitors.
The best way to present yourself and your products to any company as a potential customer is to use the help of those who have already been able to make a deal with it! Find such contacts and share your product with them.
Those salespeople who already have access to your potential customer are aware of their current problems and the needs of the company — this is especially true if they additionally act as consultants (see tip 4). If your partners can identify a problem that you can solve, they will recommend you, and many of them will do it for free.
Imagine that you are selling an application to monitor employees. Team up with a company that provides services for managing internal payments (salaries, social contributions, etc.) and tell us how your product is unique. Surely, one of the company's customers will complain about the lack of organization of the accounting of working hours, and then the partner will immediately be able to recommend your services.
You can also go further by combining calls to potential customers and marketing campaigns.
When I worked in a company that sold a platform for organizing a business network, I had the opportunity to send out my business proposal using a partner database of email addresses. Of course, we repaid this company with the same coin, talking about their services to our customers.
8. Write for your industry and use the press.
Narrowly directed publications about the problems of a particular industry are one of the best ways to “reach out” to potential buyers. Given the fact that specialized media are trusted, you will have good chances to increase your brand awareness and get new opportunities for development.
Constantly remind the editors of specialized resources of your existence and always be ready to answer questions from online publications when they need a personal opinion of a specialist or any help in preparing a publication. If you do not have time for all this, but there is enough financial resources, use PR agencies that work in the sector you need.
The continuation of the advice of Tim Nguen we will publish in just a couple of days. Do you consider these recommendations applicable in your work?
About the translator
The article is translated in Alconost.
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/247721/
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