All About Prospecting
The art of obtaining new clients isn’t something that comes easily for most marketers and businesspeople. It can be difficult convincing others to invest in your business, even if it’s clear to you why you’re the answer to their needs. Prospecting is the act of seeking out new verified leads in whatever capacity it takes. Whether you’re cold calling, emailing, making introductions at events, or filling out contact forms on websites, these outreach efforts are known as prospecting.
If you’ve been in business for a long while and you are looking to enhance your funnel with verified contactable information, take a glance at our Contact Data Processing. You might have prospecting methods that you prefer or have seemed to work best, with respect to your industry. And if you’re fresh on the scene of a new industry or new workplace, you might still be trying to figure out which prospecting methods work best for you and your business.
Prospecting in B2B Sales
When it comes to B2B sales, there are certain methods that have long been praised as tried and true, but there are also plenty of new and emerging methods that you can leverage to conquer your lead generation goals in 2022. While many resources we found highlighted methods like creating dedicated time for prospecting or continuing to reach out to your existing network, we’re going to highlight some of the lesser-known yet highly effective methods that aren’t quite so obvious.
We’ll recap them below so you can save them for later. If you haven’t tried all of them, you’re going to want to pencil them in ASAP!
Align Offerings with Consumer Profiles
Each of your offerings, whether a product or a service, should naturally align with one of your consumer profiles’ needs. Whether you have just one consumer profile (sometimes called avatars or personas), or multiple, by identifying which consumers would benefit most from each of your individual offerings, you can tailor your outreach in a way that feels personalized and meets their needs. The act of consumer segmentation isn’t just helpful when it comes to prospecting – this can simplify your approach to marketing, manufacturing, and more.
This approach allows you to step into any prospecting situation – no matter the medium – with a knowledge of what offerings will be most helpful to them. This way, you can navigate the conversation (phone call, email, etc.) confidently and with offerings in mind that can help them feel understood.
Hard Work Pays Off
As the saying goes, quality always beats quantity. Except for when it doesn’t. Now, we will never advocate for showing up as anything less than your best in order to give each interaction your full attention, however, there are studies that show the more time you spend prospecting, the more leads you can tuck away. It might not sound all that shocking, but by incorporating some structure into your prospecting techniques, you might see increased success almost right away. For many, this means blocking their calendar on a daily basis to allow for prospecting follow-up and outreach. Others block off an entire day each week to prospecting activities. Whatever it looks like for you, consider implementing a schedule that works for you in order to remain accountable.
Remain Nimble and Adapt to Market Changes
One of the best ways to secure big-ticket prospects is to seize the opportunity when it presents itself. Industries are changing, growing, and evolving every day, and by remaining nimble, you can spot opportunities when they arrive. This looks a lot like keeping up with business news, recognizing trends as they happen, and reaching out to new customers with the mindset of being able to solve problems together. As markets ebb and flow, you should avoid pigeonholing yourself into the same outreach practices and the same industries. When the pandemic hit, businesses had to evolve. How can you step in to collaborate in new ways with new industries the next time things change?
Prequalify Prospects to Save Everyone Time
There’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve landed a prospect, only to find that you can’t really meet their needs or aren’t a good fit for their business model. You’ve both wasted a bit of time and are left feeling disappointed that it didn’t work out. But this situation is entirely avoidable, and that’s where prequalifying your CRM with validated high-target leads comes in handy. OutlastedData applies BI to deliver verified and accurate B2B data services for successful business growth.
The practice of prequalifying looks different for every organization, but is essentially a series of questions or prerequisites that your leads and prospects answer before you move forward. These questions should be specific but easy to answer. Consider asking questions about how your prospect needs help, their budget, timeline, who their own audience is, and more. These questions can help you get a better sense of their needs, but also can help you learn more about whether or not you’re a good fit.
By implementing these prospecting methods into your 2021 and 2022 plans, you’ll be able to see a significant increase in the quantity – and quality – of the leads you generate for your business. While many focus on the method of generating leads – email vs phone call vs meeting in person – we think it’s important to explore all avenues and use these methods to drill down into techniques that work best for you. Once you’ve identified what works, it’s time to enrich your prospects database stick with verified emails and phone numbers. Don’t hesitate to contact our business growth team to assist you with data for optimal sales and marketing pipelines.
