We get asked by our users every day how we find the right contacts to put in Winmo. The truth is, we’re lucky: we have an in-house research team that scours the internet and calls to confirm contact information for each company every 120 days. With that, though, comes an intimate understanding of one of the most frustrating aspects of prospecting, finding the right person to get in touch with. We know that no one wants to waste their time giving the perfect pitch to someone who doesn’t have any buying power.
Once you’ve perfected your pitch and determined which companies are within your target, the next step is to identify the best point of contact. In most instances, the buying process involves talking to multiple people on the team. It’s important to understand the role of people you’re speaking with and make sure to hit all the key decision makers within the company.
The size of the company can determine the types of titles to approach. If you’re unsure of the size of a company, LinkedIn is a great resource. The “About” section of the company page typically includes information about the company size. Knowing the size of the company is important because it affects how many people might be involved in the decision-making process as well as the types of titles to contact.
For example, a business with an employee size of 10 or less has fewer gatekeepers. That means that the best person to contact is often the CEO or another member of the C-Suite. In this case, the C-level executive may be the only person involved in the decision-making process so it’s important to tailor the pitch to the top executive.
For larger businesses, the best contact might be slightly lower on the totem pole. A Vice President would likely be a better point-of-contact than a C-level executive for a company that falls within the 10 – 50 employee range. The Vice President of Business Development and/or the VP, Marketing is often the decision maker for a sales pitch.
Pitching can get tricky when reaching out to companies with more than 50 employees. A company of this size often requires speaking to more than one person before completing a sale. You’re going to want to look for a more specialized position or even a location-based title if the company has more than 500 employees. This is where knowing the different types of key decision makers comes into play.
One of the biggest mistakes that salespeople make is only reaching out to top-level executives. Although Vice Presidents and C-Suite executives often have the final say for most decisions, they are also the ones whose inboxes are the most inundated. All too frequently, great pitches get left unread or pushed aside by busy executives. Chances are, starting with a lower level executive such as a director or manager would yield better results.
The influencer is the person who may not make the final decision but has a vested interest in finding the right product to solve their business problem. Often, this person is at the managerial or director level. The influencer is an important person to impress because they could greatly benefit from finding the right tool or service to take their work to the next level. Once the influencer is interested in the product/service being offered they can do more research make sure it’s a good fit for the company. This might include a trial or demo. After that, the influencer can draft a proposal to their boss who is likely a VP level decision maker.
If all else fails, reach out to someone who is new to their position. Many may think a longer-tenured employee is a better point-of-contact, but it’s likely their contact information has been floating around for quite some time. There’s a good chance that their inbox is already flooded with proposals. A new employee is less likely to have a full inbox because their contact information hasn’t had a chance to spread. They’re also more likely to be open to fresh ideas and new processes. A great way to find new people who are new to their role is on Winmo. The homepage is updated daily with recently added contacts.
