
Ask HN: What to do with a list of potential customers? - robterrin
I am targeting a customer list of companies covered by a specific piece of regulation for cyber security consulting services. How would you go about getting contact information, introductions, meetings and eventually sales?<p>Any advice and perspective would be greatly appreciated. I&#x27;m in the New York area and would happily buy somebody coffee to walk me through the basics.
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mindcrime
_How would you go about getting contact information, introductions, meetings
and eventually sales?_

The first, most obvious, and probably cheapest, way to get contact info is to
use LinkedIn. Find people that work for those companies. If you have shared
connections, ask your connection for an introduction. If not, send them an
InMail (note: I think you'll have to have a paid LI account for this, at least
if you need to send more than a handful of messages). Beyond that, you can
also try to find those people on Twitter, etc., so you can send messages their
way.

You can also buy contact information from Hoovers and similar services.

And while it's low percentage, you can still do the old thing of cold-calling
the main office number for the firm and ask for them by name. Get ready to
read up on how to deal with "gate keepers" and the like. And expect a low rate
of actually getting through, especially as you target people higher up the
organizational hierarchy.

Once you get to that point, contact people and just be straightforward with
them. Say "Hey, I'm looking at (building a product | delivering a service |
whatever) that I think would pertain to a firm like yours. If you'd be so
kind, I'd love to have a short meeting or phone call with you to get your
feedback on my idea(s) and see if there might be a way we could help you". Or
something roughly like that. Don't necessarily use that exact language (I'm
not really a sales-person!) but that _general_ approach seems to work
reasonably well. The percentages will still be pretty low, but it's likely
that some people will be willing to talk to you.

A couple of books that contain some additional details on all this, that you
might find useful, would be _The Four Steps To The Epiphany_ by Steve Blank,
_Predictable Revenue_ by Aaron Ross, and/or _Predictable Prospecting_ by
Marylou Tyler.

In terms of understanding what to do once you get conversations started, I
recommend the series of books by Jeff Thull that includes _Mastering The
Complex Sale_ , _Exceptional Selling_ and _The Prime Solution_. There's also
some really good stuff in _The Ultimate Sales Machine_ by Chet Holmes and _The
Challenger Sale_ by by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.

------
telebone_man
As I'm sure you expect, there's a lot you can learn when it comes to 'cold
intros'. So here's a list of things that first come to mind that may help.

\- Set appropriate expectations. In my experience, getting a positive response
to more than 10% of the businesses reached is very very good. Even if everyone
on the list seems absolutely perfect.

\- Businesses will refuse to speak to you for various reasons, and annoyingly
most won't tell you why! But if it feels like you're unlikely to proceed, the
most value you can get is to take your chances and ask. I wouldn't lead with
politely trying to understand how their business works. In their eyes, you
should know that already!

\- Get an understanding of who is the best person to speak to in a business in
the first place. If it's a small business, go as high up as you can..
directors... Cxx's... (as it's likely they're quite hands on). As opposed to
bigger businesses where that's not always appropriate - they may have a
'procurement department' or this sort of thing is handled by department heads.

\- Get an understanding of the best method of the first contact. I don't use
social media very much, and I'd hope that was clear by my lack of activity. I
brush off most first points of contact via SM because it doesn't feel natural.
But I use my phone a lot, so happily speak to someone for a minute or two if
they cold call me as it feels natural. I know people who hate technology and
have responded well to physically arriving at the front desk around lunch
time, offering biscuits for a 10-minute meeting.

\- Personally, I avoid probing questions in the first place. Some call them
'open questions' (those that can't naturally have a yes/no answer). Firstly,
by asking questions like this you might come across as naive to their industry
and secondly, it can make the listener feel uncomfortable. If they naturally
want to say no, let them. You have a big list of leads to get through!

\- That doesn't necessarily mean you should ask closed ended questions such as
"Do you have 5 minutes to speak about x?" or "Do you know about regulation
x?"...

\- ...I prefer the approach of pretending the customer is repeating "What's in
it for me?" whenever I say something. This more a natural attitude than a
scripted approach (like emphasising on whether a question is open or closed).

But to answer your questions specifically..

How would you go about getting contact information - depends on the method of
contact. Phone number - look in company publications, call up reception and
ask outright for it. Email - guess (format.. first.last@...
first_initial.last@...).

introductions Travel back in time and meet someone who can introduce you. :)
If the target attends social gatherings, go there.

meetings Remember they're asking "what's in it for me?". Offer something to
incentivise them. Aside from biscuits, you want 10 minutes of their time to
talk about how you can benefit them.

...and eventually sales? Let us all know when you find out ;)

Hope this helps in some way!

