The Leads Are Where You Find Them

Patient: ”Doc, it hurts when I do this.”
Doctor: ”Don’t do that.”

We need to consider alternative approaches when what we do is no longer working for us.
Unfortunately, too few people are willing to explore new possibilities and as a result they limit their ability to sell and grow.

In IT/solution sales we typically find leads through traditional means, tradeshows, referrals, cold calling etc, there is no wrong way to find new business but there are smarter ways of hitting the business you are trying to develop.

My personal favorite b2b source is linkedin. Millions of professionals’ c-level on down, give us intimate details about their business and personal lives right through their profiles.

There are a number of consultants who can help you maximize the value of linkedin and I encourage you to seek them out if it’s appropriate to your needs.

I am not one of those experts. however Flyn Penoyer has written extensively about it and I highly recommend his expertise:

http://onlinebusinessnetworker.net/blog/

But I can offer you a simple taste of how you might use this medium as a way to generate interest, source leads and pinpoint new opportunities.
Previously I discussed creating the Straw client. The composite of who you believe to be the ideal target for your services/product.
Now let’s take this theory and put it into actual practice.

For our purposes we are going to target only VP’s of sales in the IT industry.
We can use the power of linkedin’s advanced search to go and find our potential customer.
When I did this search I came up with over 15,000 profiles of individuals who fit my criteria.

Your results may vary, but the point is that they are there and all the information you need to pursue the relationship is there with them.
Now after we’ve done our search, we want to review any available information and use it to fine tune the approach and also to set us apart from those who have not done their homework.
You can glean valuable information relative to size, growth, and organizational structure.
Now go get some, and don't forget to break mine off when you close that big deal!

Your pal,

Sean