As a sales rep trying to break into enterprise accounts, the primary way has been through cold-calling.

In an ideal world, the information that you can get from web-sites would be sufficient, but when I started informally asking my partners — sales reps at companies with complimentary products — to suggest names of people they’ve sold to, it worked.

Meaning, I would get a conversation going, sometimes a full-on meeting.

Did that always result in a sale?  No.

But you’re alot closer to a sale when you can discuss and talk with someone than bouncing around in voice-mail.

What are three elements why exchanging information with a partner rep worked so much better, anecdotally 5-times better that the traditional route?

#1: Contacts

In almost all cases, I got a name of someone I wasn’t able to drum up myself.  I had no idea who the right person was in the organization.  In many instances, the person was not only spot on the right person, but looking at a potential project.

Yet, I had no idea of the name, the title, and calling the CIO and the gatekeeper wasn’t getting me there.

#2: Context

I would get alot of information that was absolutely essential before calling that I couldn’t get elsewhere.  For example:

• They have a problem that you may be trying to solve
• He’s not a tough negotiator, but will have a long cycle
• She’s the actual decision-maker and she loves our product
• I heard that they are big Open Source shop

#3: Connection

This would vary based on the contact and the sales rep, of course, but if it was a product they knew and loved, being able to mention the sales rep’s name and product would help instantly give me relevance and credibility.

Of course, I would need to make the tie-in as best as I could, but it was better than coming in completely cold.

It worked so well that I tried to do this more often…but I had a hard time.

It was cumbersome…and that’s when Allyforce was born.