How to target startups

by James Agate

Do you operate in a B2B environment?

If you are looking for a fresh source of customers, there’s nowhere better to look than right at the source of all the action. Despite the recession, thousands of new businesses are created each and everyday all of which could be your potential customers.

In the UK alone, there thousands of companies incorporated every single week day. That seems like a lot and whilst the number might be somewhere close it is important to remember that a fair percentage of these companies are either shell entities or part of a larger holding company.

There still remains a huge potential market for your business to target startups though because probably 200-500 potential customers appear each and every week day and your business could be serving them. If you imagine the entire UK business environment to be a river; if you can tap into that river at the source you get fresher water and more of it than if you try to feed off it further downstream.

Why target startups?

• They may have money to invest in services
• They are potentially more receptive to your offer because they are actively engaging and networking
• Get in there now and become a service partner for life/get a client for life
• They usually have a need for services like marketing, web design, accounting and so on.

So you want to target startups? Here’s some top tips

• Starting a business is time consuming so make your message concise, relevant and useful
• Remember that many, many businesses are targeting startups so make sure yours stands out – Invest some time and money in a professional logo, letterhead, sales letter and website. All these direct points of contact will influence the opinion a potential customer has of your business.
• Pitch lower value or even free services that lead onto a paid upsell – few businesses start with a large bank account so a business that offers free or heavily reduced prices is likely to be looked upon favourably
• Invest some time in manually sifting through your database of leads – if you buy in startup company leads (see below) then be sure to sift through them to ensure you aren’t targeting businesses that clearly won’t buy from you. Lookout for irrelevant markets, obvious shell companies and subsidiaries of larger outfits. A good way to spot a shell company or subsidiary is a generic name with either the year or a series of numbers after it usually with multiple companies registered on the same day.
• Don’t be condescending – just because the entrepreneur has struck out on their own and formed a company, it doesn’t mean they are going to be wet behind the ears. It could be one in a series of enterprises that he or she has founded or they may well have enjoyed an illustrious career prior to starting a business. This means it is important that you don’t jump in there with ‘congratulations on starting a business’ <- entrepreneurs do not need congratulating, they want to know why you are contacting them and what you can do for them.

How to get leads

There are numerous ways to get access to leads of newly formed companies both paid and free

Michrome – offer an excellent free monthly digest of businesses that are formed in your area. You receive a spreadsheet the following month for the preceding 30 days but you can pay to get information in a more timely fashion. This will usually increase conversion because you are targeting them and reaching the customer before anybody else.

New Start Data - NSD offer your business the chance to target companies just 2 days after they have been formed meaning you can beat your competitors who are unlikely to mobilise their marketing efforts anywhere near as quick. Prices start from as little as £0.05 per lead which realistically makes it affordable to any business that is serious about targeting startups.