21 WAYS TO REACH THE RIGHT PERSON WITH THE RIGHT IDEA !

SALES | 5 MIN READ 

20 Places to Research a Prospect Before a Sales Call or

 "How to reach the right person with the right idea!"

Written by Emma Brudner and updated by Aslan La Vega @zenaduorovan May19th, 2022 DUBAI-UAE

 In Dubai as elsewhere in the highly motivated, connected and competitive world we are living in right now we need to blend new innovations in marketing and promotions with old school canvassing to find a good way to reach out and communicate with our prospective clientele. 

In today’s world that is done mostly via affiliation or affinity groups. And social media outlets. Many say this is enough. But in truth there must be a two-way interaction and intercommunication that is real and makes sense.

 Knowledge is power and wisdom is knowing how to control that power.

 It is conscious responsibility and due diligence. 

 There is no doubt it is not the quantity of individuals you contact but the quality of those people. And their relevance to what you are doing. How can what you do and what they do be a win -win relationship? This is what this blog is all about.

There’s no wrong way to go about researching a prospect in advance of a call.

 Yes, there are a few efficiencies to be gained, and some networks are more important to check than others, but if you’re doing your research, you’re already more than halfway there. The only way a sales rep can truly fail is by going into a call totally cold. 

Buyers just don’t have the patience to answer basic questions whose answers are readily accessible with the most cursory searching, nor do they have time to fill you in on their challenges. 

If you pick up the phone without gathering any background information, at best you stand to annoy the person, and at worst, to be hung up on mid-sentence. 

 But you can be sure there’s not going to be any money exchanging hands or contracts being signed. You might not have time to check every box on this list before a call, and that’s okay -- just make sure to check at least a few. 

 The more you can personalize your conversation to the prospect and their business, the greater the chance that you’ll capture their interest -- and hopefully their business.

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20 Places to Research Buyers Before Sales Conversations 

 1) LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a gold mine for prospect research. If you can only research your prospect on one platform before your call, make it LinkedIn. Find your buyer on the network, and check out each of the following areas of their profile: • Experience at their current job: Most people list primary job duties or major projects they’ve worked on.

 This can help you get a sense of what falls under their jurisdiction, and what doesn’t.

 • Experience at their former jobs: Customize your messaging based on their career history. Is this their first time making this kind of purchasing decision, or have they done this many times? 

• Shared connections: If you have a connection in common with your prospect, make sure to bring it up during your conversation, and ask how they know this person. This could be a referral opportunity.

 • Groups: Click through to their groups to see what’s being talked about. 

• Recent activity: Look at what your buyer has recently shared and where. 

 The Buyer’s Twitter Account If your prospect has a Twitter account, you should spend a few minutes on their page to get a sense of what they’re interested in. 

Read a handful of the articles they’ve recently retweeted or look into an issue they posted about. 

Click back through their feed to spot any major trends in their interests. 

3) The Company’s Twitter Account

 What kind of content and messaging has the company been promoting? 

Understanding how the company is presenting itself to its customers can help you better understand how to present yourself to your buyer.

 4) The Company’s Press and Media Releases Page Scroll through the recent press releases and see if anything major has been announced such as leadership changes, product releases, financial statements, events, or customer wins.

 5) Their Competitor's Press and Media Releases Pages If a competitor has made a significant announcement within the past few months, that will colour the way your buyer looks at your offering -- either as a competitive advantage, or an unnecessary expense in the face of more pressing priorities. Figure your footing out before you pick up the phone. 

6) The Company's Financial Statements If your buyer works for a public company, it might be a good idea to check out its most recent financial reports on the SEC’s website. This will give you an idea of how the company is performing, as well as the problems it’s facing (check out “risk factors” sections). 

7) Various Blogs Read what your buyer reads and read what your buyer writes. If your prospect maintains a blog, be sure to read at least the last few posts and comment on them during your call. In addition, visit the websites of popular industry blogs and peruse the latest posts to learn more about the trends and challenges shaping the environment. 

8) The Buyer's Facebook Profile Facebook is more of a personal social network, and so typically less important for researching purposes than LinkedIn or Twitter. Still, it might be helpful to check out your buyer’s Facebook profile to pick up a few personal tidbits about them. Just make sure to weave these into the conversation naturally, or you risk giving off an overly personal vibe. Also, this is another good place to see if you have any friends in common. 

9) Your Marketing Automation System Sure, this might be the first time you're checking up on your prospect, but it might not be the first time they've checked you out. Search the prospect's name in your marketing automation system to turn up any existing contact records or interaction history. You might just find this buyer knows a lot more about your product than you thought. Use this information and tailor your approach to their current stage in the buying process. 

10) Your CRM In addition to the marketing automation system, stop by your trusty CRM to determine if another sales team member has reached out to this prospect in the past ... and if so, what (if anything) happened. HubSpot's free CRM also features a lead timeline view that aggregates recent interactions, press releases, and company news in one scrollable and automatically updated location. Research = done. 

1. CRM : customer relationship management, denoting strategies and software that enable a company to optimize its customer relations.

11) The Company's Google Results Conduct a search on the company to bring up any news stories that they've kept off their press page -- good or bad. Be sure to select third-party publications that are high-quality and reliable.

 12) The Buyer's Google Results Search your buyer’s name in quotes to surface any other information about them that might’ve fallen through the cracks. Baking contest winner? Amateur trumpet player? Right on.

13) Quora Use Quora to understand what your prospect is hoping to learn. For instance, maybe she posted a question three days ago about a challenge her company is facing. If you show up to your meeting with some relevant tips in hand, your prospect will be impressed. 

14) Glassdoor Looking at a company's Glassdoor page reveals a few important details. First, it helps you understand their culture. Does almost every review from the past two years mention the organization's stellar philanthropic record? You may want to build rapport by asking the buyer about the company's charitable initiatives. 

Glassdoor will also tell you which positions the company is hiring for. If they're looking for new employees in a division related to your product, that's a good sign. The organization is clearly investing in that area of their business. 

15) AngelList If you sell to startups, AngelList is an essential researching tool. You can see the company's funding history, including the timing, value, and participants in each round; past and present employees; advisory team; founders; products and launches; open jobs; and more. 

16) Datanyze Knowing which technology your prospect uses can help you personalize your messaging and make the most persuasive pitch. Datanyze offers a free Chrome Extension that you can click while on the prospect's website to see which tools they're currently using. 

17) Crunchbase Use Crunchbase to discover your prospect's acquisition history, funding rounds, investors, team members, news, timeline, competitors, former employees, customers, partners, sub-organizations, board members and advisors, and other related details. 

18) Yelp / TRIP ADVISOR Does your prospect work directly with consumers? If so, browsing their Yelp page is a great way to learn more about their strengths and weaknesses. Trip Advisor is also a great resource. More people are also using google photos to review places... and they get 1000s of hits each day. I know of a guy you had to meet by making a minimum of one year appointment. Instagram changed that to 2 weeks. In fact I cannot begin to describe how this principle works. It doesnt matter who the person is. 

 For example, maybe 40% of their reviews mention their poor customer service. In your initial email, you can give a few suggestions to improve service. Or maybe multiple reviewers praise their reasonable prices. You might offer to share some strategies for directing customers to the most high-margin products.

 19. Networking Events The GDC holds "Mastermind" classes and specialised events to foster greater communication between people. Because face to face communication still cannot be duplicated. As a member of this club, you have access to all the weekly tutorials and networking events which only enhance your business on a day-to-day basis. 

And it is vital to attend these events to stay abreast of market fluctuations and what is happening right now. 

20. Affinity clubs & Meetups Nowadays these affinity clubs are springing up all over the net on Facebook Instagram and elsewhere. Teambuilding or social club events. 

Yacht or golf  parties and outdoor fun etc. Its all a chance to meet even whilst relaxing. 

These Affinity clubs exist now all over the world and are a place to let your hair down and enjoy yourself – whereas the networking events are more serious...this is more relaxed. 

Meetups- festivals and even flash mobs. All are good. Think about your passions – it could even be your local church. Go find the flock you like to be around... your VIBE is your TRIBE!!!-and find out if your prospect resonates or likes what it is you also like.

 That could be golf- yachting- gardening-sailing-horses-falcons or poetry…its all a chance to expand your network and grow your business. 

TO END:

 Reaching the right person with the right idea is all about luck and circumstance. But if you are 100% ready to deliver when the time comes for you to deliver ... you are quid's in. There are no surprises or late nights. These 20 ways should be the basis of your research. The next step is to be effective with your time. Sir Richard Branson as an example counts every second on every meeting. I spoke to him for 8 minutes and 26 seconds about raising money to find a little girl. As it happens 100 000 pounds mysteriously was deposited by the billionaire in that very charity the next day.

 Time is all important. 

It just takes a second to look into someone's eyes... and they will change the course of their entire lives... I know.  Because I have done it. Fortune truly does favor the bold. If not I wouldn't have met half the people I have. It is the law of attraction .. in fact I would upgrade that phrase and say ... its the law of MAGNETISM- of which I will write about later. 

It is all about changing the atmosphere with presence. And the more present you are in the here and the now...the more you will reach the right person with the right idea.. and this is last word... 

NO. 21... BE PREPARED. - Don't sound like a muppet! Roger rabbit-Richard- "Dicky. "billionaire Sir Branson. meditates each day to focus on what he needs to do or to say. He runs over 250 companies. 

Again I say.."Preparation is the mother of SUCCESS!".. if your mind is prepared already..you wont be surprised to meet Nelson Mandela or Jimmy Cater or the Dalai Lama or even John Travolta and Angelie Jollie. You will have something to say to them. They can learn from you. Because you have already met them. As they have you. The only difference is that they happen to be more well known. true greatness is not found in the media but in you. You are great. So reaching that level of connection is all about shining that greatness in whatever it is that you do. 

Mother Theresa would say to God.. " Send only the ones who need it the most to me... and the rest ... you look after!" We cant do everything. But when we do... lets be ready to act. To take responsibility and reach the right person with the right idea. 

BE PREPARED!