Jill Konrath - Selling to Big Companies

Top Sales Resource, February 2009

This month I only have one to share with you! It must be because it's a short month. Enjoy!

Landing Big Sales with an RFP
by Tom Searcy

This is the first ebook I've seen on this grossly overlooked topic - and it's definitely a winner. Smaller firms hoping to land large corporate customers will find the most value, but even sellers from big companies will learn some new tricks.

In short, you'll discover how to qualify, divide and conquer RFPs that make the most sense for your company. Click here to download. (Registration required, but worth it.)

What's Happening at the Sales 2.0 Conference

Next week I'm heading to the 2.0 Sales Conference in San Francisco.

This event showcases all sorts of sales technology that can speed up their sales cycles, increase sales effectiveness, decrease costs and improve the customer experience.

I'll have a chance to listen to how numerous companies are actually deploying these technologies as well as talk to the vendors themselves.

As many of you know, I am a serious technophobe. However, I joyfully embrace technology (and fight my way through a miserable learning curve) when I can see the difference it makes for individual sellers or for sales organizations.

Expect some updates about what I'm learning. I'll be writing about what I like too!

If you're interested, register for the Sales 2.0 Conference yourself! It's March 4 & 5.

Why you should misspell your last name on LinkedIn - and other important LinkedIn strategies you may be overlooking

Are you still trying to figure on how to get LinkedIn to work for you?

If so, then you need to meet Patrick O'Malley. He's a true LinkedIn Wizard who has helped me take my profile to the next level. Check out this video.

Click here to learn more about Patrick O'Malley, his LinkedIn expertise, coaching & training programs. He has more great articles, videos and tips on his website.

Also, if we're not connected on LinkedIn yet, send me an invite and mention this blog post. I'll accept your invitation in a nanosecond.

Here's my LinkedIn profile: http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/sellingtobigcompanies

Make a Referral Week coming soon! Are you ready?

How can we jump start an economy that's struggling? My good friend John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, has a great idea - and I'm joining forces with him to make it happen.

Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time.

The goal for the week of March 9-13 is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business.

Get started now by signing the Make a Referral Week pledge. Then start thinking about all those referrals you can make. And cross your fingers that someone will be thinking of you too!

A sales book worth reading? You be the judge!

Justyn Howard, blogger at The Passive Pipeline, just reviewed my book. Take a look at this picture he posted!

Why would a successful enterprise account manager put Post-Its all those pages? Could he possibly have discovered some new ideas or fresh perspectives?

Check out his review here. Also, he's collecting comments from others who have read Selling to Big Companies. When you share you story, you get a chance to win an autographed copy. FYI, here are a few recent emails I've received from readers:

Bill Hampton: My company finished a six-figure project last Friday. We received the order because we put into action what you taught us in your book, Selling to Big Companies. A less-than-$20 investment paid a handsome commission.

Parker Norwood: I simply wanted to thank you for your Selling to Big Companies book, the best sales book that I have ever read in my 20 years of selling, no kidding.  It was real, to the point, offers a plan, and I re-read it all the time.   I don’t watch movies twice much less re-read books, so this is a big deal.  I didn’t want to put it down, and I am not a big reader.

Jim Cox: Last year I focused on learning your methodology. Payoffs started coming right away. Now I have the biggest pipeline in my 17 years with the company. Here's an example ...

I left a voicemail for the president of a mid-market bank. In it, I stated a key "trigger" learned via online research. I also referenced two "name brand" banks, with summation of our performance for them. The very next day, a VP called me back. I closed the deal verbally, winning the contract and business within a month.

Do you have your copy yet? Want to read two chapters before you buy it?

Get them here - then decide if it's worth it for you.

8 fresh, pertinent strategies to land big accounts

Success, a magazine for entrepreneurs and small business owners  features this article that I wrote in their March issue:

Selling to Big Companies: Strategies to Break Through

Do you ever dream of the day when your customer roster includes companies like GE, Walmart, or IBM instead of Ma & Pa, Inc.? If you've ever made attempts to crack into a large corporation, you know how tough it can be.

Plus, it's downright intimidating when you think about it. Those big companies are so huge, that you don't even know where to start. Then you start to question why they'd ever want to do business with your small, no-name firm.

Enough already! Big companies can be virtual goldmines for savvy entrepreneurs. If they like your product or service, they'll eagerly expand their relationship with you. But that can seem like a virtual impossibility when still you're on the outside looking in.

Here are eight fresh, pertinent strategies you can use to set up meetings with corporate decision makers and ultimately land big contracts.

Break big companies down into smaller entities.
Unless you're selling enterprise solutions, you'll find it much easier to get your initial contract if you pursue opportunities in a small subset of an organization. Rather than being awestruck and immobilized by the magnitude of "selling" to GE, you might pursue a relationship with the Marketing department of the Fleet Services division of the Commercial Financial Services business unit.

This enables you to find out the names of potential decision makers, conduct due diligence without being overwhelmed, and implement a customized "getting in" campaign.

Click here to continue reading.

To subscribe to Success, click here.

Join me on Sales Evangelist TV on Monday night at 9 pm ET

Karl Goldfield, the Start Up Sales Mentor, has invited me to be his guest on Sales Evangelist TV Monday night at 9 pm EST. He'll be asking me questions such as:

• Where do most salespeople tend to get stuck?
• How do you get buyers to listen - especially if you're a small, no-name company?
• When it comes to change, how do you reduce the fear of new things?
• What advice do you have for entrepreneurs that want to sell their ideas?

This is my first internet TV experiment. I'll be broadcasting live from my home office! Hopefully you can join us. Click here for the Sales Evangelist TV show.

Attn. Aussie, KIWI & UK Readers: Free webinar on Selling in Tough Times

Here's an open invite to my friends overseas. Please join me.

•  United Kingdom: Register now.
    Tuesday, 10 February, 3 pm (UK), 10 am (Central)

•  Australia/New Zealand: Register now.
    Wednesday, 11 February, 12 noon Australian EDT

Selling in Tough times
As the economy slows, so do decisions to invest money in new products or services. How do you gain strong interest from prospects and keep the momentum going?

Attend this webinar to learn how you can:

• Shorten your sales cycle and win more profitable contracts.
• Get a quick initial order that you can leverage for more business.
• Reignite prospects who appear to have fizzled out.

Hopefully you can join me! And thanks to GoToMeeting Corporate for making this possible.

Part II: Are you selling to the very important top officers? Should you be?

On Tuesday, I posted Part I of my interview with Tony Parinello, co-author of the newly released book, Five Minutes with VITO. Here's the conclusion of our conversation. (Download a PDF of the entire discussion.)

Jill: What other mistakes do you see people make when selling to the VITO.

Tony: They don't acknowledge VITO's gatekeeper – the private assistant of a president, CEO or owner. Forget about those stupid ridiculous tactics you've learned about how to get through, past, over, under or around the gatekeeper. They don't work.

So here is the next secret. Let's say you reach out to VITO and their private assistant picks up the phone. Just treat the private assistant as if they were VITO, but just don’t call them VITO.

Whatever you were going to say to VITO, say to that person. Because guess what - when VITO is not there, they are running the company. They are keeping things in check. They're a matched set with VITO, so whatever you'd say to VITO, you say to VITO's private assistant.

Salespeople do stupid things. When they're calling VITO and his private assistant picks up the phone and says, "Ms. Importante’s office. May I help you?" – the first thing the salesperson says is, "Is Ms. Importante in?"

The gatekeeper is going to say no - even if VITO is sitting right there looking straight at here. The gatekeeper is going to say no.

Jill: That's right.

Tony: Now some sales books say that if you get three no's in a row, you're on your way to a sale.

Are you selling to the very important top officers? Should you be?

Recently I had a chance to interview one of my highly-respected colleagues, Tony Parinello. He's the author of Selling to VITO, a sales classic since 1994. He's also the co-author along with David Mattson of the newly released book, Five Minutes with VITO. Both books are excellent companions to Selling to Big Companies.  Click here to download a PDF of the interview now. .

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Jill: Let's start out with a quick definition Tony. Who is this “VITO” that you want salespeople to call on?

Tony: First of all, selling to VITO has got nothing to do with trying to convince an Italian to do something that they maybe don’t want to do, nor is it about selling to the mob. But it has everything to do with reaching out to the VITO - Very Important Top Officer, or the person with the ultimate veto power.

It's reaching out to the people that salespeople typically and generally don’t reach out to. It's especially important today because of the business climate we are in. All decisions are rolling up to these VITOs who have the last nod on your sale, the last yes or no. What VITO wants, VITO gets. They have the ultimate veto – or should I say, VITO power.

Jill: That is a very clever use of language! What positions or job titles do these VITOs hold? I don't see that title on any organization chart.

Tony: VITOs usually have titles like president, CEO, owner, chairman of the board. VITO is the person at the very very top of the org chart who owns the responsibility for the revenue, for controlling and containing, making things run smoothly and ensuring compliance. They're the person at the end of the day that most everything rolls up to. They have to report to the shareholders, the analysts or the person who at the top of the telephone pole. That's the VITO.

Jill: Do you think that every seller should be selling or calling on the VITOs?

Tony: This has always been a question from way back when I wrote the first VITO book in 1994. Jeez, you know, people worry about if VITO will take their call, if he or she is actually going to speak to a salesperson and what they're going to say to VITO.

But let me give you an example.