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Ask HN: How do you connect to companies for consulting

2 points by jamesmp98 ↗ HN
I have a distant wish to do software consulting for companies focusing on security and enterprise modernization, but have always wondered how such an agency would connect and sell themselves to mid-large companies?

Any advice, I'm in no way looking to do this immediately, just curious.

2 comments

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mindcrime
1. Use LinkedIn to find people who work for the kinds of companies that you want to target. Send them LI messages, and/or lookup their snail mail address and send them your pitch. Lookup the companies main number and call and ask for them. If they're high up in the company you may find that you have to do with "getting past gatekeepers". There are entire books on this subject. Lots of them. Go to Amazon.com and look for books on "prospecting".

2. Identify trade shows and other events that are frequented by people in the industry you want to target. Go to those events and mingle with people there and solicit interest. If you have money to spend, rent a booth at the event formally.

3. Go to generic "business mixer" type events held in your city... things put on by groups like the Chamber of Commerce, etc. Mingle and talk with people and solicit interest there. Note: this is less targeted since the audience is more random, so you'll probably get a lower "hit" rate.

4. Speak at events like local Java User's Group, Linux User's Group, Scala User's Group, etc. meetings and meetups. At the beginning or end of your talk, casually note that you do consulting / services around the topic you are presenting on.

5. Talk to former co-workers and other connections of your own and ask them for referrals.

6. Advertise. Facebook ads, Reddit ads, LinkedIn ads, Google adwords, etc. Have a nice website to direct people to if they come looking for you.

7. I dunno, there's probably hundreds of other things you can do, but those are some obvious ones that come to mind.