Selling Business 2 Business? Do you know about Manta?

Living in a world of conducting Business 2 Business sales for 20 + years, one has to get resourceful when prospecting for new business leads. Let's face it, it's much easier to get your foot in the door at a business when you at least know the business owner's name. Getting that information is another thing. Often times the secretary/receptionist aka "the Gatekeeper", is not so willing to share that information when you ask for it because that is the first big red flag to them that this is just another sales call on the phone! So having information about the business on hand, including knowing who the right person to ask for is crucial to getting past that gatekeeper and reaching the appropriate person. This information is not always on the company's website so you need to know where to find it.

If you sell to businesses and have not used Manta.com then you must check it out. You can search any type of business and narrow it down to a specific city and/or state, so you can search for restaurants in Wilmington, DE or plumbers in Philadelphia, PA. You get the idea. The results will show you multiple listings and within each listing will be the company's contact information along with estimated annual revenue, number of employees and yes, mostly always the business owner's name. There are other sites that offer this information but I have found Manta to be the most reliable. Every now and then a business may get sold and the owner's name will not be current because they have not updated their Manta record, but for the most part, this site is an incredibly effective business tool - and it's free! 

Also, if you are business owner, don't forget to create a listing on Manta for your business. This makes it easy for other business owners to find and do business with you and it helps with your search engine rankings being listed there!