Inside connections: 6 ways to get a foot in the door at a prospect company

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You know the story: You have a territory. You know of a company with the potential to become a client. You don’t know anyone at the firm. If you call, you likely won’t get through. If you send letters or an e-mail, you hear nothing. How can you get your foot in the door?

Although social prospecting to make connections is a good strategy, let us focus on business-to business-strategies that can be implemented across several prospect firms simultaneously.

1. Call up their sales department. I think I came across this one in a LinkedIn discussion. It’s not my idea, but I think it is brilliant. Call up your “opposite number” at that firm, specifically the people who are trying to get their foot in the door elsewhere for their company’s product. Explain your situation. Ask who at the firm they should be contacting. Can they suggest an inside track? Can you use their name? Logic: These people experience repetitive attempts to contact and rejection same as you do. They can be sympathetic and really provide some help.
2. Work your LinkedIn contacts. Do a search under the company name. Look for first level connections. You might know someone who currently works at that first or worked there in a previous job. Depending on how well you know them, you can pick up the phone and call them or ask for some help through LinkedIn messaging. Logic: You are using LinkedIn for the purpose intended: making business-to-business connections.
3. The overnight mail package. This is a strategy used by a financial advisor with the goal of getting in front of relocated senior executives, trying to get them as clients. He would buy the “Best of” issue of the city’s namesake magazine, listing best neighborhoods, best country clubs and best schools. He would include a cover note and send it by overnight mail to the executive’s office. He would call a few days later and follow up. Logic: Overnight mail still carries a sense of urgency. The relocated executive needs to make big decisions quickly, like where to live and where the children should attend school. The magazine is actually very useful. The gatekeeper remembers. The call would often get through to the executive.
4. The charity connection. If you are involved with a citywide charity or major cultural institution, it is worthwhile to approach the professional staff and ask: “Who do you know” at that firm? Logic: Charities want to keep donors happy. One way to do that is helping to make connections. They may be able to put you in front of someone at the firm because both of you are supporters of the same organization.
5. The chamber of commerce. Is the company a chamber member? Are you a chamber member?  There is usually a point of contact on the company’s chamber profile. Reach out to them as one chamber member to another. Logic: The reason the chamber exists is to help members do business, often with each other.
6. Your college alumni association. Like LinkedIn and the Chamber, it’s an organization where you have “paid your dues.” It is reasonable to expect them to try and help you professionally. Look over the alumni directory. Do any graduates work there?  Check the rules the school may have regarding how this data can be used. Is it OK to ask for an informational interview with your fellow graduate to learn how the company is organized, how these decisions are made and who to approach? Logic: You are not asking them to go to bat for you. You are not selling to them directly. You are asking for someone to draw you a road map and point you in the right direction.

Related: Getting through to hard-to-reach prospects: 8 strategies that actually work

Several of these strategies support the old saying: “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”  You may have connections to inside people and not know it!

 Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” is available on Amazon.