I recently gave a talk to the Canadian Tech Accelerator on how to find decision makers and get meetings as a startup with limited connections. The Canadian Consulate of New York brings a few select young companies to NYC every 3 months to expose them to the New York Tech ecosystem while they grow their business.
For my efforts, they were kind enough to give me a lifetime supply of maple syrup along with a lock of Gretzky’s hair. Pretty sweet trade eh!
In this talk, I cover:
ways to find a decision maker
how to write cold emails that actually work (warning contains unconventional, non-toolish advice)
exact cold call scripts and strategies
some random “resourceful” tactics I’ve used to open doors that I think …
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This is a sneaky post…
Recently somebody on twitter asked me when they should follow up with someone whose made an email introduction in the deal cycle.
After the first conversation?
Mid deal?
After the deal has closed?
Never? (Really hope you didn’t say never)
First off, if you aren’t following up with someone providing the results and/or a progress report after they’ve made an email introduction change that. It’s important because it signals that you’re grateful making these people more likely to make introductions for you in the future. Also 90% OF PEOPLE DON’T DO THIS which makes you stand out…
The second reason why you should follow up with someone whose made an introduction has implications …
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You’re about to see how to use the “Good Cop Bad Cop” technique to get things done and handle uncomfortable situations.
In business, you’re bound to encounter confrontation which can put a strain on a relationship:
“Hey can you get me that check that was due last month?”
“I noticed that you didn’t link back to us in the integration…would you mind inserting a link there?”
“I’m sorry we’re just not going to be able to build that feature you requested.”
Let’s talk about how you can use good cop bad cop to disarm these situations while minimizing any negative effect on a relationship.
What is the Good Cop Bad Cop Technique?
Let’s lay the foundation: people like doing business with people they like. When …
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This post is about strategies I’ve used to close the deal.
One of the biggest challenges in sales and business development can be inspiring urgency to get a deal done. Just because someone perceives value in your offering, doesn’t mean they’ll make it a priority.
There are a number of tactics I’ve used to push deals through the finish line. Though most of these have been in the context of API partnerships, these strategies can be effective in many situations.
The Press Bait
One way to expedite a conversation is by baiting a prospect with a potential press opportunity. Only do this if you actually plan on doing a press release at some point. Here is an example script that demonstrates more precisely what …
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I’m pumped to announce I’m starting a new interview show. I’m aiming to interview people who’ve done really cool things in order to expose their knowledge to others.
My first interview is with Biz Dev pro Alex Taub. In our interview he reveals:
How he “broke into tech”
The most important thing he’s done for building his person brand
One major reason he left to join Dwolla
What BD means at Dwolla (for him)
The one thing he wish he knew when he started out in the tech space
This interview also reveals how excessively I move my eyebrows when I talk. Geez. Going to work on that for next time.
[leadplayer_vid id=”5155E25402F51″]
My next interview will be with “America’s Youngest VC” Alex Banayan. Subscribe here or follow me on …
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I’ve been doing some smiling and dialing recently and thought I’d share some free resources to find corporate phone numbers. I’m listing these in the order of how I approach finding one. The hierarchy of this list is determined by a combination of accuracy and speed.
1. Company Website
I’ll spare you a proverbial explanation. Many company sites contain the corporate phone number on the “Contact Us” or “About Us” page.
Note* it’s important to understand that many phone numbers on company sites are customer service numbers instead of corporate office numbers. Make sure the number explicitly reads as “Corporate Office” or “Headquarters”.
2. ECorporateOffices.com
ECorporateOffices.com has pretty accurate phone numbers. Their data set isn’t as robust as some other sources, but you can search …
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I’ll make this short and sweet. I previously wrote about how to find prospect’s full name when you encounter a private profile like the example below (sorry Marco for using you as a a guinea pig!).
Unfortunately, this trick doesn’t always work because some people choose not to display their public profile…sigh.
Fear not! I found a work-around that almost always solves this problem. Check out the brief video below to learn this tactic.
Note* if have trouble viewing the presentation it’s because BContext files might not work with older versions of Chrome, Safari, and Firefox…update that guy.
Linkedin Hack Addendum
Do you like Lifehacks and creative ways to do things more efficiently? Check out my online community HackingNYC where hundreds of people share their …
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I recently had an interesting business development conversation with a founder that I thought others might find interesting.
His company is just about to finalize a deal with their first marquee partner. He was wondering at what point he should start using their name in conversations with other prospects.
The social proof of another of big name in the space is tremendously valuable for them. It provides optics that can be leveraged to attract new partners/customers. Thus, the earlier they can take advantage of this the better.
One (dangerous) Approach:
You could start telling other prospects that you’re working with the partner despite the fact it hasn’t been finalized.
The upside is that you might be able to expedite landing additional partners.
The downside is that …
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