How can B2B startups secure business with large corporate accounts without having to go through the pain of a tender process?
A process that normally requires a complex and excruciatingly long procurement process in which your lack of experience will be a major hold back to success. The good news is that there is a proven ‘under the radar’ playbook that works well for smaller businesses with project-based offerings and who don’t have the time or resources to complete cold RFPs.
It involves a laser focussed approach to key account business development:
- Identify key contacts within the business who have an urgent need that your product can absolutely solve
- Engage them with a bite-sized pilot project that doesn’t ask for any long term commitment or agreement
- Deploy your solution seeking to prove the one-off business case of its adoption at every opportunity
- Convert your contacts to advocates who will then upwardly sponsor your solution to more senior-level stakeholders based on your agile approach to problem-solving
As an absolute must, you have to charge for the initial pilot engagement / don’t offer your service for free in this situation.
Not only will that devalue your services in the eyes of the client, but it will also prevent you from getting set up with the client on that all-important official supplier list.
Once you have established that critical toehold in the client's business the opportunity to grow the account increases exponentially and it is incredible how often initial small engagements grow to become much larger engagements.
With the added benefit of securing that hero logo for the website!
