I remember a favorite question my father asked: Is the horse that wins 10X the prize money, 10x faster than the others? Often times, the winning horse wins by only a nose.

So the answer is “No”. His lesson was that the winner only has to be a fraction better than the nearest competitor to win the prize. What was I willing to do to be just a little stronger, faster, smarter and better than the next person in any of my endeavors?

Do not the same dynamics take place in sales? Is the sales professional who secures the deal, make quota and achieves the financial rewards 10X better the next? I content that it is the little things that makes the difference. I believe a big differentiator is the ability and willingness to do the extra “Due Diligence” necessary to Know Everything possible about a company, contacts and the industry at large.

Having observed hundreds of sales operations; I am fascinated by both the...

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The Challenge

When choosing an interim management solution, the primary decision maker is typically the president or Board of Directors. Winning the business is a function of targeted segmentation and then making connections to build relationships. The average sales cycle in the industry is 1.2 years.

Atticus knows that having the right information on companies and contacts is critical to their sales process. Conventional sources such as lists or database information has proven to be old and inaccurate, costing the company time and effort. Alternatively, tapping into the dynamic information found on the web, while much more suitable to their needs, is cumbersome and inefficient.

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Looking to get the most out of your investment in Broadlook tools? Mike Tischer, Director of Client Experience, was asked to talk about the key ways people can maximize their results with their investment in Broadlook tools.

1) Q: What is the most important thing for a new Broadlook customer to know coming into the client experience?
I think the single most important thing for a new user of Broadlook tools to have is a picture of what goals or projects they plan to use their investment to achieve. In almost every case, our clients have made their licensure purchase with specific initiatives in mind. These initiatives, which are unique to the client, serve as the foundation for all of the support, orientation, and curriculum we provide in our “Getting Started” phase.

2) Q: What can you point to that has been attendees successful in maximizing their use of the tools?
There has been one common trait among our most successful clients. They take full advantage of all of the resources available to them right from the start. They attend our functional product classes to learn the bits and bytes of each tool, they get into our beginner and advanced workshops to leverage applied learning to their goals, and they schedule project-level support to work on their unique initiatives.

3) Q: What would you recommend as the best way for someone to get started and get rapid results?
Architect a search plan for each initiative. Collect everything you need for this plan – make an inventory - including sources you’ll want to collect information from, and any additional data you might use (unique titles, certifications, skill sets, - intellectual property stuff) in the search. Get it all on paper before even reaching for tools. This is the first thing I do for every search I conduct.

4) Q: If there was only one thing a person did to be successful, what would it be?
Plan (See above)