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A group of us want to work with a rather large company on a specific project. I was able to contact the person in the department i wanted and on the initial email she forward me to 4 colleagues that may be interested.

Right now i seemed to be ignored. I havent pitched yet, i just asked what they may like to hear in the pitch or if he or she is interested in a particular subject or problem. So far no one has emailed me back. Its been 3 weeks for some, 1 week for others. How do i pitch or get them talking to me so i can pitch? I know i cant send them 5 pages and expect them to read it. My initial email was barely a page and 2 of them had a follow up less then half a page.

-edit- After making a comment to one of the answers I realize I should include this

How do I talk to the 5 I was forward to? They are project managers of specific teams and the original contact didnt have a specific project name in her title. As an example, their project is researching energy with X while i want to research energy with Y. Although the 5 would know what i am talking about but our projects are different mine does not fall under it but beside it. I am unsure what i am to be asking of the 5 she forward me to.

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

You are on the right track - you used a proper channel and made an initial contact. So far they have not rejected you officially. You still have a chance. It is possible that they still have interest, but not enough to get back to you. DO NOT send 5 pages - nobody's going to read it. I believe you can follow-up with a VERY SHORT message where you need to effectively convey just 2 items:

  1. clear benefit for them, from this partnership, but not in details -- just top level
  2. reiterate your interest in a meeting with them (to go into more details of the benefits you see in such partnership)

Good luck!

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I like this. ok, one thing that has me messing up is what do i say to the 5 she forward me to? I dont actually know if she is their boss or just a coworker. Her title is 'project manager' and the 5 are also managers project managers but have a project name beside it. (i googled and found it). Do i pitch to each of them like i would to the original PM i contacted? The project is related but different. Its like they are research energy using X and i want to research energy with Y although they will what i am talking about they'll be doing something different (our projects dont overlap either) – Frank B. Nov 11 '10 at 14:03
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Don't recommend that..respect your initial contact and her possible title. It will go far in the end. I would drop her a mail alone first empathizing about her being very busy but asking her for some feedback as your firm feels a viable value is to be had. Best of luck. – XS Direct Nov 11 '10 at 15:01
@XS Direct: What do i say to the other 5? – Frank B. Nov 12 '10 at 6:20
I wouldn't say anything to the other 5 yet...I would try to engage the initial contact..perhaps a call instead of mail to hear her voice and question her... I would also have some qualifying questions ready to ask. – XS Direct Nov 12 '10 at 15:08
up vote 0 down vote

In a large company there are tons of employees, many product leaders, and lots of managers. Your job is to sieve through all these people to find someone who has the power to make an actual decision. The person most interested in your product often has no power to hire you. Keep that in mind.

You have found someone to make your initial contact with, (and you have to respect your initial contact), but that person may not have the power to actually do anything. Since she forwarded your info to 5 other people, I would guess she does not have the power to get you in the door.

I would recommend that you call this person and have a general conversation with her. Feel her out to see what her position and authority is. See if she feels you need to talk to someone else. Then find out who would be the best person to talk to. When you find out who you really should be talking to, you need to really work hard on what you are going to say to them.

No one is going to read through 5 pages of unsolicited information. It will probably just be thrown away. I would work on a very short summary of what are the specific benefits of your project for that company. Less than a page in length. Not the features of your project/product, but how it directly benefits that company. Email it to your potential new contact along with a note that you will follow this up with a call in the next day or so. And make sure to mention so & so told you to send this to them. Then follow up.

The trick in selling to big companies is to find the right person to talk to (one with the power to do something) and give them the right pitch.

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