UserNotFound

Account Executive

Notorious Answer

Valued Contributor

Building a portfolio- Need Advice

I'm in an industry that requires you to build a 'book of business' before you hit a really good/steady income. For the past several years I've been focusing on enterprise accounts and so all of my contacts are in these circles. We all know the bigger they are the longer they take to fall, so while I have a stellar funnel because I'm working some monsters- I desperately need to backfill w/some smaller SMB type deals.

Would love some advice on ways to get entrenched in the SMB community better in the current climate. I've always been great with networking, but of course that's not happening right now. I need some creative, short sales cycle wins! (For context, I'm in B2B Telecommunications/Cloud/Data Center/etc.)

Edited to add: The big question I have here is- what have you seen success with to get better acquainted with >100user businesses in this current climate?

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Ace

Arsonist

1

CEO

I am unclear about your specific question. Can you help me with that so that I can answer better?

UserNotFound

Politicker

1

Account Executive

@Ace that's what I get for multi-tasking. Really, I'm just trying to get some fresh ideas on how to get into smaller businesses right now. Cold calling in person is seen as an affront, phone calls go unanswered most of the time, and emails are ignored. Leveraging my network has always worked well, but I'm not finding many small opportunities that way.

One thing I've tried to do is develop relationships with other B2B companies that serve the 20-100user market and offer a kickback for any closed leads. But it's not ramping me up as quick as I'd like. Just need some outside-the-box ideas to get me through the next few weeks.

Ace

Arsonist

1

CEO

Seems like you are doing right things, but these small deals take time too. I'd suggest you try a few of the following ways:

1. Don't just partner with B2B companies for kickbacks. That doesn't provide enough motivation. Instead find companies in your industry and go into s strategic partnership where you both are "Upselling" each other's product. This provides them with purpose because they are leveraging your product to sell theirs which is the end goal anyway. Vice Versa for you.

2. Cold email should work. Look at the template, maybe it sounds too salesy. Experiment with that. For me, adding some humor works good.

3. Depends on the city you are in, get connected to local tech community either via slack or in person.

4. Ask your existing clients for referrals for an extended month or 2 free of the product license.

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

1

MDR

Ask your existing clients for referrals for an extended month or 2 free of the product license.

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

1

ISR

Depends on the city you are in, get connected to local tech community either via slack or in person.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

0

ISR

Don't just partner with B2B companies for kickbacks. That doesn't provide enough motivation. Instead find companies in your industry and go into s strategic partnership where you both are "Upselling" each other's product. This provides them with purpose because they are leveraging your product to sell theirs which is the end goal anyway. Vice Versa for you.

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