CXO Engagement: Why is Contact Info Not Enough?

Most companies spend too much time worrying about getting customer contact info and not enough time thinking about what they are going to say to these customers once they get in touch with them.

While having the right contact info is important, it is useless if you don’t have a strategy for making yourself relevant to the person on the other end of the phone.

To increase your hit rate, do some basic homework on your most important accounts. Find a “hook” that gets them interested in talking to you in the first place, and sets the stage for a substantive business conversation.

Here are three things you should do and know:

Make sure you have the right person:

Titles alone don’t tell you someone’s functional responsibility and LinkedIn profiles often lack this basic information. Search the open web to see if you can find the person who is really responsible for buying what you’re selling.

Identify their focus and challenges:

By reading the company’s latest earnings call transcript or an interview with their CEO or boss, you can often map out what your contact is focused on.

Connect the dots and focus, focus, focus:

Don’t overwhelm customers with your entire product portfolio and a litany of features and benefits. Using what you know about their responsibilities and company strategy, stay focused on the offerings that you know will help drive their business goals.

Top salespeople put a lot more thought and preparation into what they are going to say than worrying about having the right contact info. Prospect databases serve their purpose. But an email or phone number is just the beginning. To win a customer's attention and respect, good salespeople know the stakes are high in that first contact and that there is no shortcut to doing their homework.