How to sell to a public company
The answer lies in public filings
With almost 5,900 publicly traded companies in the US alone, the likelihood of having one or more public companies in your sales territory is high.
At first glance, selling to a public company can seem daunting; lots of stakeholders, with different opinions and needs, across different teams, internal politics. It can be easy to waste time going down the wrong rabbit hole.
The key to overcoming this is research and preparation as the more you know what someone cares about, the easier it is to sell to them, because you can guide the conversation to surface their biggest challenges.
While private companies keep much of this valuable information close to their chests, public companies have to disclose it on a regular basis. Understanding what to look for in these disclosures helps give you a head start on your prep.
There are two key sources of information on a public company, both of which have gold for salespeople:
Earnings call transcripts
SEC filings