Navigating corporate bureaucracy (its politics, legacy systems and cost centers) is the pain point and the reason efficiencies are sometimes not implemented, ev

Navigating corporate bureaucracy (its politics, legacy systems and cost centers) is the pain point and the reason efficiencies are sometimes not implemented, even by people working within corporations. That said I see that very thing as the opportunity - there are tricks that smart operators use to navigate enterprises successfully. To get a foot in the door, track down some relevant contacts (friends, LinkedIn etc). Contact them and offer to take them to coffee/lunch to chat about what you can do for them. Don't go hard on the sales pitch at this point - just build rapport. At the coffee, it's all about learning about them - what are the strategic priorities of their business unit, and the company as a whole? (You need to slot into this). What would success look like to them? (This is not just results and efficiencies for the company, but your contact within the company will want the internal kudos for pushing through change with minimal pain and maximum visible benefit). Stage three is to provide them with the proposal - the pressure point here is to feed your contact all the materials and party lines they need to get you across the line with their various internal stakeholders. Help them help themselves - case studies and referees help here, and enterprises are all about the 'value add', so emphasize your 'above and beyond', added-value features. Your branding and market positioning will also need to align with the standard of enterprise you're aiming to work with - e.g. if you're aiming for top-tier enterprises you'll need prestige branding and a value proposition akin to being 'smart' or 'efficient' or 'innovative' etc. Many large enterprises have 'preferred supplier' or 'preferred vendor' lists so (depending on your product/service) you'll want to edge your way onto it - it helps to belong to any relevant industry associations and undertake a bit of healthy corporate social responsibility (offset your carbon usage, pro-bono charity work etc). Once you have one enterprise on board, leverage that connection to get to their competitors. (A slow-cooker version of consumer virality - name drop to their competitors that you've been working with them, and they're more likely to jump on the bandwagon). I'm sorry if I'm rambling, I hope this helps! :)