Now, there are two types of sales triggers: general and specific.

As we discussed previously, Trigger Events is about a certain change in the status quo that brings about a sales opportunity. From that change perspective, here is a descriptive, yet not exhaustive list:

–          Financial Change

• Positive/negative earnings
• Capital raise, funding, IPO
• Bankruptcy

–          Personnel Change

• Appointment/promotion of key executives
• Job postings

–          Legislative Change

• SOPA
• SarBox

–          Growth

• Expansion/ new locations
• Patent filing
• New product launches

Specific trigger events are only relevant to a certain industry or company. For example:

–          Engagement ring purchases are excellent sales triggers for wedding planners.

–          Issuance of building permits is a good trigger for construction companies and builders.

–          Hacker attacks are awesome trigger events for IT security companies.

–          Corporate debt downgrades are good triggers for turnaround consultancies and bankruptcy lawyers.

–          Etc., etc., etc.

Now to make this relevant, think hard what itch your product or service is helping scratch and, more importantly, what precursor events need to happen to for the itch to appear and – very important point – for your prospective client to become aware of the itch.

This point is paramount – for example, a hacker attack may go unnoticed and hence the prospective client may be unaware that they need to upgrade their IT security.

Now, go ahead and:

1.  Make a list of conditions or events that need to be present for your prospective clients to realize they have a need for the benefit that your product/service delivers.
2. Find sources, public or private, of this trigger event information. This can be Google Alerts, Factiva, various trade publications – both print and online.
3. For extra bonus: think how you can introduce the trigger event into your prospects mind, so that you actively drive the process instead of reacting to outside events.

This last point begs an example: HubSpot, an inbound marketing company, recently introduced a free tool called WebSiteGrader that grades any website on parameters like SEO, social media, information architecture, etc. – you might have guessed that these are some of the services that HubSpot is selling.

The when you grade your site and find where you are lacking, it is only natural that you’d turn to HubSpot to fix your issues – a brilliant tool that creates sales triggers – realization that the website is lacking – out of thin air. Beautifully done.

You can find more on how to leverage sales trigger events – specifically, management changes – for technology sales at http://www.CTOsOnTheMove.com. Further, you can sign up for the limited, free version and paid, full version of the service at http://www.CTOsOnTheMove.com/pricing.html