Friday, May 16, 2008

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6 Steps to Finding Good C-Level Contacts

By Juliann Grant
Vice President

There are many companies that provide mailing lists to support the sales outreach effort. They include services like OneSource, Hoovers, D&B, and Harris. One of the challenges is that these lists can get a bit pricey. What if it’s the end of the year and your marketing budget is stretched thin but you still need to pull together a sales list for a new vertical market segment? Can you make this happen without signing up for an expensive list management service?

The other challenge is that list companies are good at creating quantity, but not necessarily quality. Pre-assembled lists are usually not the kind of contacts a sales rep can call on tomorrow. Of course, most of our clients are looking for action...YESTERDAY. So we need to focus on gathering quality names quickly. This usually requires a manual effort.

Manually assembling a list may seem like drudgery, but it can be an enlightening process, especially for those who are used to looking for hot spots in unlikely locations. The list assembly process allows you to quickly learn more about your customers, market trends, and competitors. It takes time, but it can be well worth the effort.

Note: All list assembly work that involves e-mail addresses must comply with federal and international opt-in requirements. Once assembled, make sure you use the list responsibly or you could face significant fines and penalties.

Here are a few tips to get your started:

1. Focus on the Top 20. So you don’t have to start from scratch, ask your sales people for their Top 20 or so target prospect companies. They don’t need to provide contacts, just company names and web sites if possible. Review each company web site and capture obvious target contact names where possible.
   
   
2. Read 10Ks on Public Companies. If the company is public, read their 10K and get up to speed on the inside dirt. You will probably also find executive contacts in this material. You can discern some fantastic competitive information, such as acquisition targets, various lines of business, and lawsuits. It’s sounds a little hard core, but the more you know, the more you will understand your market and what your customers and your salespeople are facing. You can also produce some helpful intelligence for the account team.
   
   
3. Look in Likely Places on the Internet. Don’t forget that the printed material we used to rely upon is are now available on the Internet. This includes:
   
   
   • Industry-Sponsored Directories
   • Trade Shows & Conference Exhibitor Lists
   • Newswires, like PR Newswire and BusinessWire.
     
     
4. Look in Unlikely Places on the Internet. If a company does not provide a management team page, then you need to get creative to find executive contacts that fit your profile. Here are some places to sniff around:
   
   
   • Press Releases: Good press releases typically have a current executive quote, or you might find the announcement of a new executive appointment.
     
     
   • ZoomInfo: ZoomInfo aggregates information on people and companies and is worth a look.
     
     
   • LinkedIn: As they say, you are only a few degrees separation from anyone. LinkedIn may be able to help you find a few new contacts.
     
     
   • Articles in Industry Publications & Magazines: Search out company name references the industry trade press web sites. Their PR efforts can tell you a lot about what they are focusing their resources on.
     
     
5. Find New Profile Matches. Once you start searching your the Top 20 list, you will naturally uncover new opportunities -- other companies that match similar sets of keywords. Make sure you investigate them. As you peruse various web sites, pay attention to the copyright dates in the page footer. This will tell you if a company is investing in its marketing program, if it’s even still in existence, or whether it’s in some sort of transition – like having been acquired and you’ve simply found an old URL that’s still kicking around.
   
   
6. Make Sure to Add Notes & Comments. Part of what will make this list more useful is detailed notes about information you uncover along the way. You really do find the darndest things on the Internet, and it could end up being great sales intelligence. Arming your sales team with insightful information about a company just may be that extra tidbit that gets them in the door.

To dig up the best contacts for your sales team, find out more about Telesian’s Market BluePrint™ Service.