Strategies for Landing Your First 5 Large Enterprise Clients

Securing your first large enterprise clients can be a daunting task, but with the right strategies and a focused approach, you can significantly increase your chances of success. Here’s a comprehensive guide on how to get your first 5 large enterprise clients without spending too much money.

Focus on a Specific Industry/Sector

One of the most effective ways to grow your clientele is to target a specific industry or sector. Large companies across various sectors are present, but you should pick one to begin with. This approach makes it easier to acquire additional clients in the same sector once you’ve gained a few customers. For instance, during the early days, we focused on the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) sector, acquiring clients such as State Bank of India (SBI), SBI Life Insurer, ICICI Bank, SBI Mutual Fund, and Kotak Bank. Once you have a few clients in a sector, acquiring another in the same sector becomes much easier, as you can showcase case studies and provide references and testimonials.

Utilize References from Advisors

A reference from a trusted advisor can play a crucial role in securing your first meeting with a large enterprise. For example, because banks like ICICI wouldn’t bother talking to an unknown 21-year-old founder for an unknown software product, they provided a reference from someone they trusted. In my case, an advisor of mine helped me get that first reference. After obtaining the reference, you can use it to secure a meeting, which is the key to moving forward.

Engage Your College Alumni Network

Your college alumni network can be a goldmine when it comes to securing large enterprise clients. Being from an institute like IIT Bombay, it helped me land so many enterprise customers because both the referrer and the recipient were alumni. Trust is a key factor in these scenarios. If you don’t have a strong college network, explore other ways to find affiliated customers, such as industry associations or events.

Be Proactive and Reach Out

The most straightforward approach is to simply reach out. I wrote a LinkedIn message to the CEO of a large insurance company and he immediately sent me his email ID and asked me to share our presentation. He also connected me with his team, and a few months later, they became our paying client. The formula is straightforward: if you want to sell to 5 clients, reach out to 500 prospects. Even though only 5 will book a demo and 1 will eventually purchase, the sheer number of contacts can lead to significant results.

Ask for References from Current Customers

Getting a reference from a parent entity or another group can give potential customers a lot of comfort. For example, a large stock broking firm became our customer because their parent entity, a bank, had already provided a reference. This reduced their due diligence, as the bank had already vetted us.

Note

It's important to recognize that what worked for me may not be the same for everyone. Experiment with different strategies within your industry and iterate until you find what works best. Additionally, it’s not easy to get the first 5 large clients. It requires persistence, a strategic approach, and often, sheer hard work.

Keywords: enterprise clients, large clients, customer acquisition