So, you’ve finally struck out on your own, and you’ve managed to get some cash flowing into your bank accounts.
Unfortunately, it’s just enough to pay your business and living expenses – no fancy sports cars or caviar for you.
Don’t lose heart, though: John Bradberry was once a consultant struggling to get traction with his nascent consulting firm.
With tons of hustle, he managed to get his company off the ground, but it wasn’t until he focused on several key areas before he began to attract the attention of heavy-hitters.
In this article, we will share our top tips which will help you to land your first big corporate client.
1) Change your approach
Winning a contract with a Fortune 500 company demands that you change how you go about acquiring clients.
Smaller businesses are easy to reach through e-mail and content marketing, but the machinations of Corporate America means that it will be next to impossible to land an account from a company in this elite stratum of the business world.
Instead, you’ll need to craft a highly personalized sales pitch that will capture the attention of its busy salespeople and executives.
2) Do your homework before making first contact
You can’t just shoot from the hip when you are pursuing a contract with a big corporation. You’ll need to really dig deep and come up with a unique selling proposition that will raise the eyebrows of those who can secure you that coveted corporate contract.
Read up on your prospect’s strengths, weakness, and their ambitions for the future. If they are publicly owned, find their annual financial report in their investor relations section on their website. If they are private, do a search for mentions in the media to get an accurate picture of their situation.
Cobble together the info you’ll need, and you’ll be able to present a compelling narrative to the decision makers you’ll be contacting.
3) Figure out who the decision makers are
Speaking of decision makers: how do you find them? It is a lot tougher to figure that out when you are going after vast multinational corporations, which seems to have an infinite number of moving parts.
Unless you know a person on the inside, you’ll have to put in the work to find who has the authority to hear you out and grant you a contract.
Pour through investor reports and articles in the media, and comb every inch of their website. Even if you don’t find the exact person you are looking for, you’ll find the info for someone close enough to the decision maker that they might be willing to refer you to them.
4) Be professional
From spelling & grammar to your manner on the phone, any small slip-up can cost you a valuable corporate account.
Big companies are some of the most risk adverse entities on the planet because they have so much to lose by making a mistake.
Any interaction you undertake should not give your contact reasonable grounds to terminate further meetings because they feel that you aren’t capable of adding value to their organization.