A company registered three months ago has no suppliers, no habits and plenty of decisions ahead. How to prospect new companies the right way.
When salespeople build lists, they often filter out the smallest and youngest companies. That's understandable: small businesses have small budgets, and many new companies don't survive their first years. But for some offers, newly started companies are the best target group there is – and the most overlooked.
Why new companies are different
An established company that has existed for twenty years already has an accounting firm, a bank, an insurer, a phone provider and IT support. Getting them to switch requires convincing them that the current arrangement is bad enough to be worth the hassle.
A newly started company has none of these. Every supplier is a new decision, and decisions have to be made quickly. There's no incumbent to displace – just an owner who needs to solve a problem and has no time to compare ten alternatives.
That means the following kinds of offer are a particularly good fit:
- Accounting and payroll. Every limited company needs bookkeeping from day one.
- Insurance. Liability and property insurance become relevant as soon as the business gets going.
- Banking and payments. Business account, card acceptance, invoicing.
- Premises, telephony and IT. Everything needed to start working.
- Industry-specific tools. A new construction or cleaning company needs tools for quotes and work orders; a new restaurant needs a point-of-sale system.
How to find them
SCB's business register records when a company was started. In the company search you can filter by founding year and combine it with industry and municipality. A list of limited companies in SNI 43 (specialised construction) registered in Västra Götaland county this year is concrete and manageable.
Run the same search regularly – monthly or quarterly – so you catch new companies while they are still setting up. Timing is everything here. A company that started three months ago is far more receptive than one that started two years ago and has already chosen its suppliers.
Tailor the message
New business owners have different problems from established executives, and your message must reflect that.
Be practical. The new owner wants to know what needs doing and how you'll help. “We'll get your bookkeeping set up – you'll have a working system within a week” works better than “We are a leading firm with 30 years of experience.”
Be clear about price. New companies are often price-conscious, and they have no experience of what things usually cost. A clear fixed price is easier to say yes to than “we'll put together a quote”.
Show you understand the situation. An opening like “Congratulations on getting started – the first few months tend to be full of decisions nobody prepared you for” shows you know who you're talking to.
Be aware of the pitfalls
There are a few things to bear in mind when prospecting new companies:
Many are sole traders. A large share of new businesses are registered as sole proprietorships. Different rules apply to email marketing because the owner is legally a natural person. Filter by legal form, or use other channels for that group.
Not all become active. Some companies are registered but never really get going – a dormant company, a project that didn't happen. Expect a share of the list not to respond, and focus on those showing signs of activity.
The owner is busy. A new business owner receives many offers in a short space of time – you're not the only one who had the idea. A relevant, short offer stands out; yet another generic “congratulations email” doesn't.
Think long term
Perhaps the most interesting thing about new companies isn't the first deal but what happens next. A company that starts with two people may have twenty in five years. If you were the one who helped from the start, you have a relationship that's hard for a competitor to break.
That requires looking after small customers even while they're small. But it's often one of the most profitable investments a sales team can make – especially if you build founding year into your lead scoring as a variable and track how new customers grow over time.