As your company grows, you may find yourself courting large organizations and large companies as clients.
As in, MUCH bigger.
While this can be intimidating (in fact, large organizations are often DESIGNED to be impressive and even intimidating!) working with a large organization is not really any more challenging than working with smaller companies.
In fact, in some ways it can be easier.
There are a few key factors to keep in mind.
The larger the organization (and the larger the transaction) the longer every decision is probably going to take.
The more seats around the table, the more time you’ll have to take to ensure that everyone understands your proposal, and what it means for him or her.
In this example, the project manager is the first person to contact us. He introduces us to his boss, then we find ourselves working with the Project Control Department, the Safety Department, the Engineering Department, the QA/QC Department, the Procurement Department and the General Manager. Each of these folks is likely to have a different way of looking at things, a different level of interest, and a different angle.
In any case, it’s important to maintain close ties (and a certain amount of loyalty) with the Project Manager who initially invited you to the party.
Although you may be working with people further up the organizational chart, it’s very important to stay in touch with this person’s goals and objectives; since this person has an inside view of the organizations politics and history.
If you make him the “hero” of the story, solving the problem for which he first contacted your company, you acquire a VERY helpful ally.
We also discussed specific methods of using LinkedIn to expand your network within the company and its close partners; as well as using Google Alerts to stay on top of company news and topics related to the project. (We certainly should know of any developments before our clients have to explain it all to us!)
The full video is aviailable for our members here:
https://abci.customerhub.net/phase-two-buildng-credibility-closing
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