When looking at how our business has evolved over recent years, it’s become clear that, if you’re a sales executive, you should consider adding marketing to your key initiatives and responsibilities.
Combining these marketing efforts with prospecting can help you build your own business inside your technology dealership.
One way to start is by changing your prospecting sequencing, adding marketing to your sales process for free. Instead of initially asking for a net-new meeting, try to “pre-warm” your prospect by starting with two marketing touches. Plan out your prospecting sequencing so your first two weeks include:
- Creating a Google Alert for their company
- Using connections on LinkedIn to establish credibility
- Posting to your prospects on LinkedIn
- Sending relevant articles
Let’s take a look at each of these steps a bit more in depth to set you up for success.
1. Creating a Google Alert for Their Company
If you haven’t already signed up for this, simply search “Google alerts” online and create one for the company you want to follow. Remember, these alerts work best by putting quotation marks around the company name (e.g., “Johnson Law Firm”) because it will create a searchable PDF for all those words in a row. If you want info about an office/company in a specific state, include the state’s abbreviation with the company’s name in the search bar.
Once you set this up, you’ll receive an email when something related to that company happens and is posted on the Internet. For instance, if you wanted to start prospecting a large law firm, that firm may post a press release about winning a case, job openings, changes to their website, articles written about any of their attorneys, etc. You would then receive an alert about their new content. Be sure to set up your email client so that any Google alert is sent to a specific folder. Then spend some time each week to review your alerts and stay on top of information about not only your prospects, but current customers as well. For example, if one of your current customers opens a new location, you can congratulate them and ask if they need help with technology at the site. It might create an additional technology sale for you.
2. Using Connections on LinkedIn to Establish Credibility
Up to 100 times in a calendar week, you have the ability to request a connection with people and companies on the site. This is true even for the non-paid version of LinkedIn. Additionally, you should always push the blue “Follow” button on any prospect’s profile so that you’re alerted to the company’s successes.
Let’s use this credit union as an example. Below is their company profile.
After following their company, you can click on “See all 188 employees” and review all the LinkedIn profiles of staff members.
You can also create a customized “ask for connection” by looking at their company’s blog, newsletters or website to find information that can initiate a conversation. The idea is to create something you can use repeatedly.
For example, this particular credit union posted to their website that they became the sponsor of the Miami Dolphins. I chose one individual who works there and clicked the blue “Connect” button on their profile, which lets you create a customized ask for connection.
If you notice in the example below, I mentioned the sponsorship as a way in to the conversation. I also left out the name of my company, and also was sure not to include the individual’s name, as this allows me to quickly copy and paste my note to up to 99 additional employees there who have LinkedIn profiles.
Imagine being connected to multiple people inside your prospect’s company before you even asked for a meeting. So when decision makers for that credit union eventually check you out on LinkedIn—and they will—they’ll see that you’re already connected to 30 people inside their company, adding to your credibility.
3. Posting to Your Prospects on LinkedIn
When you post to someone, whether they’re connected to you or not, you’ll show up at the top of their feed when they open LinkedIn. This is obviously ideal because you can get in front of your prospect with any message you want them to hear without actually “knowing” them.
Here’s how it works. When you’re on your LinkedIn homepage, you’ll see where you can start a post.
When you finish with your post—which could be new content you wrote, a repost of something from your equipment manufacturer, an article you read, etc.—simply type the @ sign and the person’s name who you want to reach, and then attach it to your post.
For example, here’s someone I haven’t had the chance to work with yet, but I want him to see what I wrote as a marketing touch. Because I tagged him in the way I just described, I’ll get to the top of his LinkedIn post feed. You can’t always guarantee that someone will listen to a voicemail or read your email, but you know they’ll see your post.
4. Sending Relevant Articles
In this step, you’ll want to sign up for periodicals and blogs that contain information you might like to share with C-level prospects. You can create a marketing e-mail and insert articles they may want to read, or share with customers to review and comment. Some of this information is also great to post on LinkedIn.
Here are some sites to start with.
CIO/CTO
- https://www.cio.com/newsletters/signup.html
- https://www.cioinsight.com/
COO
- https://cooalliance.com/blog/
- https://go.forrester.com/blogs/
CFO
- https://www.cfo.com/cfo-magazine/
- https://www.cfoconnect.eu/en/resources
- https://www.thecreativescfo.com/blog
Human Resources
- www.alltop.com/business
- https://hr.blr.com/
AP/AR
- https://www.ap-now.com/products/Accounts-Payable-Monthly-Newsletter.cfm
- https://www.cfodailynews.com/hrmp-content-type/keep-up-to-date-on-accounts-payable-newsletters/
You can also find your own relevant articles by using the Google search ideas below. These articles can be a marketing touch before solicitation for a meeting, included in a thank-you email after a net-new meeting or even a consultative touch with current customers in between your partnership reviews.
- 2023 news or articles about (insert industry)
- Articles about driving profitability for (insert industry)
- Addressing compliance changes for (insert industry)
- Articles about improving management styles
- Trends for 2023 for (insert industry)
When you create a marketing email to share articles, remember to include the link to the article/blog, mention what you thought was impactful and share that you’d be interested in their thoughts on it. For example:
Good afternoon, John,
I was reviewing DeVry University’s blog on “8 HR Trends You’ll Likely See in 2023.” (https://www.devry.edu/blog/hr-trends). It highlights something I’m sure your department is focusing on in 2023: “hybrid and remote work, employee skills management, employee benefits, company culture, engagement, technology, quiet quitting and focus on retention may represent significant challenges for HR professionals in 2023. Regardless of how these challenges occur, it’s safe to say that HR professionals will have to be on top of their games.”
Here at Kingston Technologies, we continue to focus on how to support our clients’ HR departments and their unique technology requirements to better serve their company and culture, and the acquisition of the right staff members.
I would love your thoughts on this blog.
Notice, I’m not asking for a meeting; I’m simply interacting/marketing and branding myself as an educational and thoughtful resource.
Boiling it All Down
To make things easier for you to plan, here’s a schedule for how you can utilize these marketing steps in your prospecting sequencing.
Week 1
- Identify the companies you see as prospects.
- Find at least two decision makers at each company who you want to meet. This includes CFO, COO, CIO, AP/AR executives, business managers and presidents—not office managers or purchasing managers.
- Create a Google alert for your prospect’s companies.
- Follow the companies on LinkedIn.
- Create a “customized ask” for connection and attempt connections with 100 people at those companies.
- Find a relevant article that you’d like to share.
- Post on LinkedIn to your top two or three buying prospects at your prospective company.
Week 2
- Post to your prospects on LinkedIn again.
- Check to see if anyone from the companies has accepted your LinkedIn connection.
- Send your relevant article with a customized email.
Week 3
- Start prospecting the companies by asking for a meeting.
Combining marketing into your prospecting sequencing can turn your cold calls into hot prospecting, make you more credible and ease your ability to secure more net new C-level meetings in 2023.
