subject: How to Track Down Potential Big Sales [print this page] How to Track Down Potential Big Sales How to Track Down Potential Big Sales
Start action:
The first step in achieving big sales is to make a list of companies who are really good and fit your company, products and services. The list will include all demographics and psychographics pertinent details of the companies, such as private or public, annual turnover, profit/loss, employee strength, nature of products or services, names and biodata of executives, reputation, if they invest in their people, etc. A list of about 100 companies will be adequate to start with.
Using this basic list, dig deeper and get more information about each of the companies by going through their balance sheets, industrial reports, news from print and digital media, and personal discussions with friends and employees and so on. Use this information to make a smaller list of about 25 big companies, depending upon the size and capacity of your own company.
Using this list as a starting point, scout around for selling opportunities for your products and services in any of these companies. When opportunities present themselves, start taking appropriate action by replying to inquiries, RFP's, etc. and then follow it up.
New buying strategies:
Most big companies have changed their buying strategies. No longer is buying made by one-to-one contacts between the individual buyer and seller. Instead, big companies now have a team of executives to consult and decide on matters like change of suppliers or purchase of a new product or service or other similar matters. The buying team will have at least one high level executive and stakeholders from various concerned departments like finance, labor, R&D, IT, HRD, and so on. While typically executives have the power to say "yes," they prefer to have all the stakeholders bless the decision. The object of this exercise is not only to make the correct decision but also to eliminate risks to the business.
The small-mid size company, which is the seller in this case, should also have its own team of executives and specialists, who will be able to interact with their respective counterparts and help to carry the discussions forward. This process offers many advantages to both the buyer and the seller in finalizing big deals satisfactorily.
In the matter of big sales, larger companies generally prefer to deal with other large companies and are wary of transacting business with small companies for various reasons. Big companies speak the same language, have similar systems and processes, and respect each other's ability to deliver. In comparison, small-mid size companies have the advantages of more flexibility, the ability to innovate, make quick decisions, and to offer more concessions.
As a small-mid size company, you should be able to allay the fears of the big companies and highlight the various advantages mentioned above to ensure that the big sales are decided in your favor.
The benefits of making big sales:
It costs nearly as much to land a small deal as to land a big deal. By landing more and more big sales, small companies stand to gain multiple benefits such as increased market share, higher revenue and profits, as well as enhanced reputation among their clients and customers. With this approach many CEO's have grown their companies at double the industry average in a shorter period of time.
