We will always have homework – How to research a company
How can I better prepare for that first sales call?
I started my sales career when, if you wanted information on a suspect or prospect, you probably had to go the the library, request info by mail, or perhaps someone laid out the cash to have a Thomas Registry in the building. My, how things have changed. With information now at your fingertips, or even in your pocket, you’d better have some great intel prior to that first call. Over the years, many of us have had to relearn how to research a company. Any sales call that starts with “So, what do you do here?” might as well have never happened. So what are some modern tools that can help prepare us to better utilize those precious minutes in front of our new prospect?
Some are painfully obvious. Company websites are a wealth of product, organizational and financial information, but even here, there are areas that are overlooked when researching a prospect. In addition to basic product information and the company whereabouts, the news, and career sections can be very informative.
Many companies have a page dedicated to press releases and/or industry news that affects the company. Take special note of people quoted or authoring the press releases. In addition to the news contained within, the names of key individuals may help you to network you way deeper and wider into an organization. If a company feels compelled to post a particular industry news item on its website, you can be assured that it has serious implications for the company. Perhaps you have the solution to an emerging problem. Both press releases and industry news give you ice breakers that demonstrate that you have made the effort to understand their business. This indicates that you might be of greater consultative value to that company than your competition.
The “careers” section may give you insight into how the company is organized. By reading job descriptions, you might be able to determine what certain titles mean within that company. You may get insight into how decisions are made or who the top executives are. All of these things might be important to building a broad network within that company faster and more effectively.
Linkedin is a great resource. You can use Linkedin to search companies, connect to their website, facebook or twitter pages and find employees of the company that have Linkedin accounts. You might discover that you know someone that works there. I never pass up an opportunity to get some inside scoop on someone with whom I will be meeting. Or, maybe you are having a difficult time getting an appointment with a key individual and can use someone in your network that is connected to them to introduce you.
Whether you know someone inside, or just get to look at your contact’s public profile, there is much to be gained from Linkedin. My friend, Martin Brossman, author of Linking into Sales, taught me that any information gleaned from someone’s Linkedin profile is fair game during your meeting. It’s not like you were stalking them! They posted the info, so they are comfortable with you having it, along with 100 million other people. If you want more information on how to use Linkedin, I highly recommend Martin’s books, available on Amazon.com. There are too many ways to use Linkedin to cover here.
There are a multitude of other websites that provide information about businesses, like infoUSA.com or Glassdoor.com, you just need to find the sites that provide the information that is most important in your line of sales.
One last thought: look at community, sporting and charity events that are sponsored by the company that you are researching. Companies tend to sponsor things that are either related to their business, or of interest to their leadership. Sometimes, and especially in the case of charities, these sponsorships have great emotional significance to key people in the organization. If you have a legitimate personal connection to that charity, and there is an opportunity to tactfully draw that out, your stock might rise in their eyes.
I’m sure some of you have other suggestions. Please post replies with your own great ideas.
By David Phillips
Connect to me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/davidlphillips
I’m going to reply to my own blog. A friend emailed me about my use of the terms suspect and prospect. I did not mean to use them interchangeably. They have very different meanings in in my world.
A “suspect” is a company worth researching. Sometimes, but not always, I will reclassify the company prior to a first face-to-face meeting as a “prospect” if my research and initial contacts by phone or email indicate that I should be able to cultivate some business opportunity. I prefer not to waste time in person on suspects that might be unqualified leads. However, once in a while, you get bad info and the company was merely a suspect all along.
I’d like to thank my friend for pointing this out