6. Companies are moderns tribes
• People size you up quickly
– Figure out why you matter to them!
– Understand out why your product or service
matters
– Lead with what matters
– Put your ego in a box, it is about them
• Connections / your address book is nearly
worthless
– Are you someone they want to know?
8. Techniques
• Do not rely on contacts or friends
– You already don’t matter to them!
– Going to people you don’t know often works better
• Going to the top, doesn’t work (unless it is a
small company)
• Find Product or Sales
– Don’t work with existing functional units, avoid
them if you can People who run a process won’t
change it.
9. 3 Core Problems
• Once you are ready to approach, customize
your approach
• Your job is to figure out what those problems
are:
– Personal
– Professional
– Corporate
– Offering concessions that don’t align won’t work
10. How to reach the right people
• Use it and use the subject line
• Don’t use it how they want you to use it
• Pay for InMail
• Sell you
• Don’t forget the logo page, but tailor them
• For the buyer, there is great personal risk,
think long-term about relationships
• Product vs. Sales – where to go
• Finding the right person
• Change the dynamic, never: “Are you
empowered to make this decision?”
11. Case Studies
• Winning Disney
• Legal is largely understood
• Help them help you
• Winning the battle and
losing the war
• Keep it simple
• Focus on execution
12. Date your partners
• Once you are in the door… its like dating.
• Easy to mess up a good thing
• Remember they are the client, play it cool
• If they ignore you for a while, it is very likely it
isn’t about you. It is on their timetable
13. Clover
• Third pivot, totally different industry, media to
banking
• Created a buzz
• Get competition rolling
• Be known as good people in the industry
14. Closing
• Have passion about what ever you do, even if
you are not sure of your direction
• Always be selling -- the unexpected lead
• Focus on learning, not selling – this changes
the conversation
• “Offer”, “Share”, “Educate” -- never sell!
Notes de l'éditeur
Who is this guy? Clover, Quantcast, send the last 6.5 years building companies. Before that built great products within great companies such as Intuit, AOL and AOL Local, Match.com
Humans almost died out a few times in our history. Drought and other natural catastrophes disrupted tribes and sent people wandering. Faced with these challenges, people worked to collaborate. Those who were good at working with others survived, those who couldn’t perished. Those who lived had to develop mechanisms to separate the friends for the foes. They figured out ways to collaborate… to do Business together. They had to decide why someone else was important to them quickly… in the blink of an eye.
Things obviously got more complicated as time marched on, but those techniques persisted and the importance was still there.
But the basic interactions are still there. i.e. Is this new person emailing me a potential friend who can make me better or a potential foe I should fight ignore.
And what’s up with this? People had to quickly figure out if someone was a “friend or a foe”. The perception of a positive or negative emotion on a face affects the way that an individual perceives and processes that face. A face that is perceived to have a negative emotion is processed in a less holistic manner than a face displaying a positive emotion. The proportions and expressions of the human face are important to identify origin, emotional tendencies, health qualities, and some social information.
Corporation: from Latin, many forming one corpus or body We are still tribal: Everyone has a personal, professional and corporate “pain” Discover and solve for all 3 you will always win. Walk in with the right attitude. Figure out why you matter and why they would want to know not only your company but YOU.
Use LinkedIn. If you don’t understand people’s roles, talk to people who do. At first, it hardly matters to whom you speak. Tricks to get in: Pack sexy stuff in any subject line. Things like you are in “Silicon Valley” or that you are funded by 500 Startups. This is often more important than anything else. Once in, pitch yourself and your company, inspire confidence in you… this is a people game after all. You are not at a stage to sell widgets. You are selling you. Lastly, never ask questions like “Are you the decision maker?” Ask questions like “Who else might be interested in what we are doing?” This flips it from “I am a big man/woman – I call the shots to, ah, I can look smart brokering a meeting with higher-ups, I got something to sell now. If people don’t get back to you, give them an out, let them save face… don’t say “I am awaiting a response, say something like I have been having trouble with my email, I am reforarding in case you didn’t rtecieve:”.
Going to people you don’t know often works better. They have to make a commitment to decide if matter or not. If they decide you matter, they have to act to follow up and made good on the commitment.
ANECDOTE: Start Up CEOs offering cash to close a deal to sales people – incentives don’t align to the companty, the person, nothing! Don’t do it. Figure out how to align incentives.
Use LinkedIn. If you don’t understand people’s roles, talk to people who do. At first, it hardly matters to whom you speak. Tricks to get in: Pack sexy stuff in any subject line. Things like you are in “Silicon Valley” or that you are funded by 500 Startups. This is often more important than anything else. Once in, pitch yourself and your company, inspire confidence in you… this is a people game after all. You are not at a stage to sell widgets. You are selling you. Lastly, never ask questions like “Are you the decision maker?” Ask questions like “Who else might be interested in what we are doing?” This flips it from “I am a big man/woman – I call the shots to, ah, I can look smart brokering a meeting with higher-ups, I got something to sell now. If people don’t get back to you, give them an out, let them save face… don’t say “I am awaiting a response, say something like I have been having trouble with my email, I am reforarding in case you didn’t rtecieve:”. Use the subject Treat people like they are the only one in the World Sell you…. Show the “I’m sexy” slide “ Who else might be interested?”
ANECDOTE: Share the Disney example Role of legal is wildly mis-understood Treat them like partners in the business, not like legal Is this a business decision or a legal one? ANECDOTE: Early career, negotiating the contract, being hard, getting lost in details. Contract is executed and NOTHING happens. Missed the window.
Match.com was helpful… remember… it isn’t about you. Play it cool. Don’t call, don’t pester, be helpful but be confident in yourself… you don’t need them (even if you do). Be cocky and kind.
Tell the Clover Story
CLOVER PIVOT example Ask for expertise requests Never sell, always focus on changing the conversation.
