My Prospecting Strategy

A colleague asked my advice about prospecting. I have decided to share my answer with my LinkedIn network. Hope it adds value and make your prospecting (a bit) easier. Happy hunting!

A brief background: my territory consists of Israel (where I live), Ghana and Poland. I'm a Regional Sales Manager in the last 10 years, all of them in high-tech companies.

1. Work with local partners (including in your home country). They know the language, the market, the key decision-makers, and the local competition.
2. Use personal connections and referrals – people you know from other tech companies that operate in the region and your ex-colleagues.
3. Consultants – I build a list of over 50 local IT consultants in the Israeli market, few I met before joining the company, but the majority are new – they are my personal “early warning system” for new opportunities. Be kind and give back. Share with them about new opportunities they can benefit from.
4. LinkedIn – I’m searching daily for CIOs and IT Directors or IT Infrastructure Directors in companies with over 500 employees, 3 months to 1 year in the role. Keeping in mind that LinkedIn is just another tool in your prospecting arsenal. My goal is to warm the relationship via LinkedIn to eventually secure a call. No shortcuts here (although sometimes you get lucky and manage to score a meeting fast, like with the 4th largest advisory company in my sub-region).
5. Pro Tip: Get Daniel Disney’s book – he provides 25 templates you can use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1086321561/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_RS8BDbA05X2H2
6. Twitter – I found out that decision-makers that are not openly communicating on LinkedIn, are accessible via Twitter messaging. It works.
7. Cold emails and cold calls – language can be a barrier when addressing prospects in foreign countries, so stick with short emails and let your local partners do the cold calls, after providing them all the required background information (I get connected with the prospects on LinkedIn and only then introduce them to my partners to make it a bit warmer).
8. Follow-up emails – I’m sending a short note, thanking them for reaching out and trying to schedule a call.
9. Researching – I’m googling before contacting prospects, and if I found anything that can be used as an ice breaker, I use it (I found that the fact my family origin is from Poland, helps me to pass the introduction phase).
10. Keep reading, learning, and sharing - you can get all the tools for success online, just look for the knowledge and ask (I'm here to help).

Hope you have found it useful. Would love to hear about your prospecting best practices.

Itzik