Picking up bigger clients suits some businesses perfectly – and there are countless strategies to find them!
There must be something in the water lately with many of my awesome clients & colleagues asking me the seemingly simple question “Edward, how do I pick up clients that have say 5 x staff and above?” (in fact this blog is dedicated to an amazing woman who I have lots of respect for that shall remain nameless!).
This straight forward question is quite simple on the surface, however the answer has elements of thought and points. The first thing to point out here is that depending on your business type, you may need say business clients of a certain size.
Architects, Bookkeepers, Accountants, IT Hardware People, Business Mentors and the like are often business that have services that aren’t quite suited to the solopreneur. As successful business owners with say at least 5 staff are usually very busy – they can often be incredibly difficult to get direct access too.
I have been passing these tips and insights for how I have done it personally and how I have helped hundreds achieve amazing results – enjoy:
1) Define the Ideal Client Carefully: Saying 5 employees and above is a good rule of thumb for larger businesses, however there is nothing wrong with being more specific. Are they say more technical businesses or from a certain area?
2) Find them Warm: This basically means try and go in via an introduction. Cold Calling is a very limited technique today and even if you do get a meeting – the power balance is never in one’s favour. The facts are simple – a good introduction can help you nail that client!
3) Ask Your Colleagues & Partners: By getting introductions to the right type of businesses it can make your job way easier!
4) LinkedIn 2nd Layer Searches: Learn this powerful technique well and it’s great to figure out who the high value targets connected to your connections are (this is the advanced features of LinkedIn).
5) Premium Business Events: Bigger business people often don’t go to networking events. Why on earth should they? One can often find them at dinners and charity events.
6) Business Chambers: Perfect and brilliant – they often have larger businesses and if you are a member, you can get an introduction.
7) Find New Great Referral Partners: One of my favourite strategies. Let’s say I am targeting Managers in Hotels – can I find someone who already serves them that I can work with so I can get easy introductions?
You will notice that I have stayed out of “Approaching them directly”. This usually works quite poorly unless you have some form of introduction as they often get phone calls every day from people trying to sell them something. Also, in this article I haven’t touched on the powerhouse topic of blogging – that can make you look wonderful and encourage bigger people to find you!
I trust these tips help and love your work – best of luck picking up bigger businesses as clients!
About the Author:
Edward Zia is a Marketing Mentor who oddly teaches a lot of “Personal Selling” these days, in particular when it comes to helping his clients get introductions to bigger businesses. Feel free to browse his blog for more tips & insights. If you like what you see, check out his Online Course “The Awesome Marketing Vault” >> Right Here!
The Awesome Marketing Vault by Edward Zia! Plenty of Great Ideas in my Home Study Course – Right Here!
2 Responses
Very good, informative tips, im sure I will find them useful.
You are very kind and thank you Elizabeth! You rock and keep up the wonderful work with your fine Polish Skin Care Technology!