IDEA: Post a list of ‘targeted customers’ from sales for all to review: your employees may already know them.
When your sales department is trying to target a new customer, chances are someone in your firm may know someone at that targeted firm. If your company has lots of employees, one of them may have leads into that target company. You will not know without asking. Try issuing a list of these new targets for all employees to see each week. Even if they do not have contacts, your employees may know something about the target (where they buy material, if they are hiring, if their sales are up or down, who they do business with, freight companies they hire, major current customers, relationships with etc.) Any leads contributed will help. Any knowledge contributed about that company will help your sales/marketing personnel understand more about how to approach this new customer. Just post the list for all to see and ask.