A while back I spoke about an idea I have been working on for my company for quite some time. We are in the final stage and basically what I have to do is start to contact business owners and arrange a meeting with these specific owners. Once we have a meeting, I will pitch my idea and leave it for them to decide if they are interested.

My question is.........when I call them - what should i say in reference to my company? Should i mention "we are a growing company and we have an idea for a specific business owner (you) and we would like to sit down and discuss this".

I mean I'm kind of being hesitant to tell them "i have a new idea that i have yet to market and we would like to see if you are interested in listening" - at least in those terms. I mean that statement is true, but how do i word this?


QUICK 411 ON MY IDEA/COMPANY
-Single member LLC (30 contractors working for me READY to start working for these business owners)

-I am the owner, i will be making the calls and arranging the meetings and meeting with them.

-My company has been in business on the "books" for about 2 years. But i have been in the business (no formed LLC) for over 8 years.

-This "idea" is basically coming from something Ive been doing for 8 years and woke up one day and was like "omg if i do this at this 1 particular business (each is a sep owner) - i can do it all the businesses and target the owners to hire my company to do it since ive been working IN THEIR business for 8 years"

 

i'd just call them and say you have an idea to help them make money/cut costs, and you'd like to have a meeting with them

 

if it's small businesses owned by a person/family, if it's a larger corporation, itd be harder to make that work

 

most businesses feed marketing/sales calls through a receptionist or just through voice mail and then just never return the calls. good luck.

 

its not a "large" corporation so to speak. most of the business owners are just normal dudes and have 2 employees per the store. it is a "franchise" so to speak. a big company sells the owner franchise and then its the owners (buyer) responsibility to get it setup wherever and get it marketed and bring the business in. then the big company just walks away and says "have fun"


your above statement is so simple, yet literally what i needed to hear.




think i should call them and jsut aim to arrange a meeting or actually explain it all?
Do you think i should send them something in the mail either before the call or after (in ref to my company and our vision and interest in arranging a meeting)? Or is this going overboard?

 

i know this industry (my target) , they do NOT have a receptionist or secretary. the owner is generally a worker at the store.

but this is good insight, n e suggestions on other means of attemting to get a hold of the owner?

 

no, you don't want to explain a lot over the phone, you are angling for a meeting, and you want to keep it real short, 15-30 minutes, then if they are still interested, you have a more in-depth conversation

 

^that depends on how busy they are

 

^ Walk in. and remember: That thing about not judging a book by its cover...people don't do that. People will judge you based on your appearance so be aware of how you appear.

Use the word guarantee if you can actually guarantee something. Offer a trial period if you can get away with it.

 

[QUOTE=Incubus,Aug 5 2009, 02:03 PM] ^ Walk in.