Providing professional services to the corporate world can be both extremely profitable and very rewarding, but the endeavor is not for the impatient or timid. It requires a completely different style of prospecting than in selling to small business, as well as an appreciation for the sometimes insane nuances that define big business in today's world.

But you've looked at your business, and you are determined to give it a shot. Great: just remember the following guidelines and you should be fine.

Sell yourself long before you sell your services.

The typical corporate decision-making process - which can take weeks, months, or even years - usually begins with a long series of meetings, discussions and responsibility shifting as the proposal requirements are hammered out and everyone decides on their own roles. (In an ideal world, this process is supposed to happen invisibly to outside vendors.) When the decision to move forward is finally made, the task is then handed to someone else to implement, usually on a timetable. The long deliberation is then followed by a quick implementation, starting with calls to authorized service vendors for bid proposals (a process known as issuing Requests For Proposals, or RFP's).

If your corporate prospecting consists mainly of answering RFP's, then you are losing a lot of potential business to competitors.

We don't live in an ideal world. While most corporate procurement guidelines require that multiple vendor proposals be considered for all new projects (in the interests of fair competition), in many instances there is already a preferred vendor on the inside track; the decision maker then solicits alternative proposals only to be compliant with the rules. Businesses receiving those RFP's unknowingly find themselves in a position of bidding on a project that has already been won by someone else.

As Sun Tzu once pointed out, the battle is won or lost before the first shot is fired, the victory going to the general best prepared to win. Always work to win preferred vendor status before the implementation decision is made. Establish your influence early with decision makers; if possible, influence the project requirements in your favor before the implementation step even begins.

Pick your targets carefully - rather than chasing money, look for firms that you can respect.

Large corporations, by virtue of their size, wield significant social power. Study how your prospect uses their influence.

Does it matter to you that your client runs sweat shops in third world countries? Or that it contributes heavily every year to the "other" political party? Or that it is known for abusing a monopoly position in its industry? Or that it has a reputation for treating its employees poorly?

A fruitful professional relationship with a large corporate client takes a lot of hard work and plenty of patience. If your values don't fit with the culture of your client, that job becomes much, much harder. Don't be blinded by big money: know what you stand for and seek out corporate clients that you can respect. It's better for you, better for them, and better ultimately for everyone.

Research, research, research.

And then research some more.

Every major corporation produces a virtual ocean of paper for public consumption: financial information for stockholders, press releases for the media, public relations material for everyone. Use this material to learn absolutely everything you can about the company you are targeting.

Start by carefully examining their website. Read their press releases and whitepapers. Brochures and marketing material, trade magazine coverage, financial and consumer newspaper articles, annual reports, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and stock analyses are all excellent sources of employee contact information and general intelligence. If possible, request informational interviews with company decision makers. (Don't use these interviews to sell yourself under the pretense of collecting information. No one likes being deceived, and that's a great way to ruin your reputation.)

Most importantly, learn everything you can about the problems faced by this corporation. Don't focus simply on the ones that you can directly solve for them; you never know when an obscure fact will come in handy in conversation. Be the expert - not only on your own field, but on your future client as well.

Don't pretend that a corporation is a single prospect - it isn't.

A great deal of redundancy exists in even the most well-managed corporation, often by design. Often the right hand not only doesn't know what the left hand is doing, it doesn't know that the left hand even exists. Don't make the mistake of regarding a large corporation as a single decision-making entity. Corporations contradict themselves, clash with themselves, override themselves: the monolithic front is purely an illusion.

Every individual with decision-making power is a potential prospect. Meet everyone; disrespect no one. You never know who has the influence to get you hired or fired.

Deliver only your most professionally designed promotional materials - targeted to the problem, not the prospect.

Never deliver less than your best: in cases where promotional literature (brochures, letters, etc.) is helpful, ensure that your materials reflect the highest level of quality and professionalism that you can manage. Consult with a professional copywriter on your writing and a graphic designer on your layout and presentation. Amateur work gets remembered, for all the wrong reasons.

Also, when possible, target your materials to the problem being solved rather than your prospect or its industry; rather than presenting them with a brochure for your services, offer a presentation package defining the specific problem your services will solve for this prospect. Done well, your presentation package may become the basis for a future RFP - one, of course, that your business is perfectly suited to manage.

Be flexible, adaptable and very, very patient.

Very seldomly does anything happen quickly in a big corporation. Simple decisions can take months (or years) to deliberate over before action is taken. Budgets mysteriously happen and then vanish. Management shakeups can happen without warning, ruining months of hard work - or delivering bizarre opportunities that you never saw coming.

The trick to successfully serving large corporate clients is to understand that the appearance of chaos is a normal part of the process. Don't take it personally, always be a professional, and patiently work for your moment.

Doing business with the big boys is a long-term proposition; keep your eyes on the big picture and enjoy the ride.