How do you get to the decision maker in a company these days?
Most companies have voicemail and you can even get to talk to a live person.
Even if you leave a message in a voice mail; they never return your call and you have no way of finding out who you need to talk to. If your business is dependent on providing services to other companies; how do you contact them.
Even if you leave a message in a voice mail; they never return your call and you have no way of finding out who you need to talk to. If your business is dependent on providing services to other companies; how do you contact them.
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Answers (1-10)
Networking! Big businesses with more than 50 employees highly discourage “cold calls” in today’s economic climate. This to some degree is contextual based upon location and job market demand but most will not return messages left on voicemail. They get inundate!You need to get out and attend places where your target audience meets regularly.
Or follow the company on LinkedIn or Twitter then you can find the decusion makers and invite them to an informational interview or coffee date (keep it professional and don’t stalk or over solicit). Know something about them and their industry and what’s in it for them not you.
Good luck!
I've done B2B and early in my career, had a few years in collections. If there is a receptionist, I ask them if they can help me. A request for help works 90% of the time. Sometimes you can even get a cell number. Once I have the office contact info, I'm calling at 7:45 am. Most decision makers arrive early. If you call before their Admin arrives, they will often answer the phone.
LOL- Hope you get lucky and the receptionist tells you when you call to ask, or you know an employee, or meet one who would tell you. Shame that D&B reports, Assessor info., Chamber or Association information and all those standard sources of information don't tell you anything much beyond who owns the business when it comes to businesses other than individual owner/operators.
I am going to be very plain in this answer. I think it is something that needs to be said. As someone who is not the decision maker, but has access to that person, I am more prone to be helpful to an obvious sales person IF they are honest, real, respectful, and recognizes that they are asking to speak to someone who is far too busy to speak to an average salesperson. I will not deal with someone who uses false pretenses. When I speak with a salesperson who is honest and upfront, I am happy to pass their information on to the right person.
If I know someone in the company I will ask them, otherwise I do a cold call to find out.
Ensure to incentivize properly and offer truly challenging deliverables,that are also rewarding and self actualizing.
If I know someone that works at XYZ company I ask them who the contact person is. LinkedIn is another resource at least it may provide the name of a person to start with. Google to research the company contact. Or the company website.
Networking, or figuring out their email system. Find their head honchos on a page like alignable or linked in and then figure out if their email system is first name.last name @ company name or first initiallastname @ company name. Takes a little detective work, but worth it in the long run.
You may also want to go to their website and look for the officers, many of them have their contact information list and you can write to them as well.
Depends on the question or what you are looking for.