Last week I received a lead in my territory from our manufacturer. OMG, these are rare nowadays!
Before I called the decision maker, I did my due diligence and checked the company out on their website. I got a feel for what they do and what they would use one of my color systems for.
Today, I made the call, spoke with the decision maker and was not surprised that I was one of four companies that they had called to get a proposal on replacing their aging 75-ppm color system. It seems the incumbent is not even in the picture, however, I’ll find out more tomorrow when I meet with the controller.
This will be a net new appointment, probably 75-ppm color or larger and quite a bit of color volume. I readied a few pricing scenarios, have my PowerPoint presentation ready, but, I needed something else. I need to find a way to tips the odds in my favor right? That’s what we all look for, that little something that will make us stand out from the field of competitors.
I visited their website again, went to the about us page and was able to see the name of the President, the VP, and also the person I was meeting with. I then checked the President and the VP to see if we had anything or anyone in common. Nothing for the two of them. I then focused on the person I was going to meet with (the controller).
When I brought up the controller’s page, I noticed that the controller has 240 connections. However, what I was looking for was someone that was connected to me! There has got to be that one connection. Down on the left side of the page, there it was. A level one connection; Woo hoo I thought. I then noticed that the level one connection was the owner of a copier dealership (Through the P4P Hotel ). Damn, what am I going to do now? The controller has a direct relationship with owner of another copier company and not a bad one either.
I finished preparing my presentation, along with the questions I need to ask (to see if I can use a tie down feature). I know up front this is going to be a lesson in futility, however, I have nothing to lose right?
This is going to be my last question, and I’ll probably do this as I’m packing up my bags. “Oh, just one more thing, I noticed that you are Level One connection of Mr. Dealer Owner on LinkedIn and…….” This is where I would like to hear from others, how would you finish that sentence or would you even make that statement at all?
Good selling!
