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Salespeople are under a lot of pressure to win new business. This fact hit home last week when I spoke to a salesperson who uses our research.

She let me know that she is expected to perform 5 demo's every week. In fact, someone from HQ calls her every Monday to find out what 5 demo appointments she has lined up that week. And just 2 weeks before, her company laid off a slew of under performing salespeople.

I have to admit, just speaking to her made me a bit nervous, and I don't even work there!

That conversation inspired this article. Hopefully, by using the tips below, we can help your sales team meet their metrics, whether it's demo appointments, in-person meetings, or opportunities in the pipeline.

When we do research for our clients, we're always looking for a "way in". In other words, we're looking for a project or challenge the prospect is facing that matches our clients' solution set.

Here are some of our favorite ways of finding that information:

Using job postings to find sales opportunities is a true "gem" of an idea. It's helped us find hundreds of sales opportunities for our clients. The key is to use a site that aggregates job openings from many places (like Career Builder, Monster, Dice, etc).

A good one we like is Indeed.com. Once there, go to the Advanced Search function. Next, type in a few keywords that apply to your service/product. For example, let's say you offer business intelligence (BI) solutions. Type in that keyword (or similar keywords that would indicate a company is working on a BI project).

You'll likely have to sift through a few postings, but it could prove very worthwhile. Once you find a company that is starting a project in this area, your chances of engaging your prospect will improve significantly.

No matter what you sell, there's probably a monthly eMagazine that matches it. There are online magazines dedicated to IT professionals, HR, Marketing, Finance, Legal, etc, as well as magazines devoted to verticals (Banking, Healthcare, Retail, etc). There are even online magazines devoted to specific geographic regions.

Each magazine is packed with stories and news events for that specific area. We recommend reviewing them regularly to find timely prospects.

For example, many of our clients focus on selling to the financial services vertical. Here are the top 3 online magazines we like best for that space:

1. Waters - www.watersonline.com
2. Bank Systems & Technology - www.banktech.com
3. Bank Technology News - www.americanbanker.com/btn.html

There's an online magazine(s) for nearly every area. If you need help finding one that fits your solution, feel free to send me an email at silvia@industrygems.com.

If your salespeople are really looking for the six-figure (and potentially seven-figure) sale, have them read the company's quarterly Earnings Transcripts (if the company is public).

Every quarter, public U.S. companies must present to shareholders and investors. Those meetings are recorded and later transcribed to written word.

At those meetings, the executive management talks about their future strategies, upcoming projects, as well as any issues or challenges they're trying to resolve. It's a great way to find out the more "hidden" type of information that's not being reported in the news.

You can find a company's earnings transcripts at Seeking Alpha.

We truly hope the above tips can help your salespeople meet their metrics!

Silvia Quintanilla is President & Chief Sales Detective of Industry Gems, a boutique custom sales intelligence company dedicated to helping salespeople win large deals with Fortune 500 companies. Learn more about us at www.industrygems.com or call us today at 510-745-9956 for a free consultation.

If you sell technology solutions to the Fortune 500, we invite you to sign up for our Sales Gems Triggered Events newsletter at www.industrygems.com (subscription box on top left hand corner). Every month we highlight the best "door opening" news that can help you get your foot in the door.

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