Know-How Exchange : Branding

You can target large companies by using a site called Jigsaw. This site has a list of contacts searched by title, i.e. President, owner, IT manager, sales manager etc...

There are also lead sources like SalesGenie which can provide general business contacts. This site allows you to search by new businesses, number of employees, annual revenue etc...

Jonathon Casalou
Business Development & Marketing

You could build a list of prospects by offering something for free. Then target those prospects with your product / services once they opt-in to your list.

Find the forums and blogs where the people who are the end users, decision makers or influences in your purchase cycle discuss IT issues and make yourself a useful subject matter expert by making relevant, informational, non-salesy posts that include a good signature block. You'll not only gain exposure to the people you want to sell in a no-pressure atmosphere, you'll also have the pulse of the kinds of problems they're experiencing. They'll see that you have good solutions. It's a valid farming technique.

If you're only targeting telecom, you have a small universe of potential prospects, so lead gen will have to be followed up with intensive relationship-building. (I have the same audience, but not the IT departments).

I'd suggest you look at the big tradeshows -- Mobile World Congress is the biggest, and everyone goes there. It may not be worth the $$ to exhibit, but you could plan promotions and meetings around the show. You might also look at CTIA IT in the fall, in San Francisco.

Social media, as part of a larger PR campaign, could also be very important.

First, identify who exactly needs your services (you've already identified where they are). Small / Medium / Large Companies? Since they presumably already have a telecom solution, why would they need your services? Can you save them a lot of money? Increased reliability? Reduced maintenance? More secure? What's their risk of switching to your solution? What's the upside of switching?

Next, identify how you're different from your competitors. Is it your ability to be at the client's site in under 2 hours? It it your world-class certification? Do you have a patent on a new technology that will simplify their technology needs?

Who inside an organization is likely to respond to you? This will be differ based on your key benefit. For example, IT may not care about saving money, but would care about speed/reliability.

As for finding your competitors, look at job boards in your target market to see who's hiring telecom engineers.

All great answers. I may be misunderstanding the nature of your company bu If I understand correctly you are providing telecom solutions to businesses. Your prime prospects are going to be companies who are in a position to make a decision about technology (ie. moving locations, new business, adding staff, building renovation, etc).

How about starting a lead exchange club with some other companies looking for the same prospects? I did this in my past profession. I hooked up with an office furniture supply company, a data networking company, a security systems company, a fire protection company, etc. Meet weekly and exchange leads, talk about what is going on in the market and who is growing. If distance is an issue set up the group online...my group exchanged leads by email every Monday. So every Monday morning I had 10 good quality leads to work that I knew were in need of my services.

Basically you want to hook-up with people who are looking for the same prospects you are, but are not competing with you.

Hope this helps,
Zack Pike