These are the best 5 B2B prospecting techniques and best practices you can use to grow your business.

The B2B Prospecting Strategies to Grow your Pipeline guide will help you build your B2B prospects lists. It will identify the best prospecting strategies to attract the right customers.

B2B Prospecting Strategies to Develop a More Valuable Customer Basis

Prospecting is an important part of any B2B sales team. However, it takes some planning to find the right customers and avoid wasting time with those who won’t buy.

This post will discuss the most efficient methods of prospecting that are available to sales teams today.

1. Prospect lists for B2B markets

A list of firms and contacts that may be interested in your product/service. This gives your sales team an indication of where to focus their efforts. A database or CRM platform such as Salesforce is typically used to manage prospect lists. These lists can be updated when more information is available about prospects.

Before you can start building your prospect list, you need to choose which customers and firms you want to target. Ideal client profiles and buyer personas are a good place to begin.

Which verticals and sectors are most likely to use your solution? Identify specific industry verticals.

Do you work for a large company, a small, medium-sized business, or a start-up? What is the number of people employed here?

The income per year is another common way to measure a company’s size. What is the ARR for businesses using your solution?

What do you talk with in such companies?

The executive level: Who are the VPs and Directors responsible for buying your product? Your efforts could be more effective if you target managers and other decision-makers within the company. You may need to reach out both to top-level executives as well as to lower-level experts if your product solves a problem.

Depending on your business unit, are you more suitable for IT or marketing?

Primary research, such as interviews, focus groups, targeted outreach, and focus groups, combined with third-party market research can help you to identify your ideal customer. For more information, please see EBQ’s article on creating buyer personas to support prospecting strategies.

Prospecting using an account-based method

The most important feature of your B2B prospect lists is their narrow focus on those individuals and organizations most likely to be interested.

Many B2B companies use an account-based sales strategy, especially those that offer high-cost services or corporate clients. They target companies that are already known as potential consumers and not just a specific type of buyer or company.

Your sales reps will be able to pinpoint the right customers by using an account-based approach. Your sales team will have a list of target accounts. They just need to find the right person to speak to and build interest in these customers.

What should you spend to build a list?

What do you think about this question? It is not uncommon for lead list providers to have a bad reputation. Even though they may have hundreds to thousands of names, the vast majority of these contacts could be incorrect or not match your target customer profile.

This will allow you to build a more personalized list of potential customers. Prospecting tools are a great way to identify potential customers and gather contact information. You can also learn more about your target accounts with these tools.

It takes time and effort to compile a list of potential clients. Many reputable list companies can help you get everyone on the same page.

EBQ’s B2B Data Services is a good example. They focus on highly targeted prospect lists that have been carefully curated by humans. Working with a partner that takes the time to understand your target audience, and works closely with you to ensure quality data can help you save time and money.

2. Cold calling approach

Cold calling is one of the best ways to find new clients. According to a recent survey, ten sales professionals agreed that cold calling is still a viable strategy.

When it comes to cold calling, there are some considerations for B2B organizations:

We all have to deal regularly with long sales cycles, which require a variety of touchpoints.

Cold-calling leads are too difficult for our salespeople.

Many B2B companies have sales development reps who are specialized in sales. They can conduct cold calling and prospecting, follow up on leads, qualify them, and schedule closing appointments.

With an SDR on your staff, you won’t waste time on poor leads. An SDR can focus its attention on prospecting strategies and the top of your funnel, which will result in better prospecting for your business.

Our Ultimate Guide to B2B Appointment Setting is a great resource for anyone thinking of cold calling or SDR strategies.

Making cold calls

You need to have a few key elements for cold calling to be successful. It’s a good idea for you to prepare the following before you start:

• The ideal type of customer (or target accounts) for account-based sales
• Potential leadership candidates can be identified and qualified by a system
• Call cadence

Lead qualification process

A regular lead qualification process is the best way to keep track of cold-call prospects.

Vibrating is an example we developed for the development of our own sales efforts.

Cold leads have an EBRating 7; as they get warmer and become sales-qualified leads, their EBRating decreases.

The lead qualification system gives both sales and development teams a single view of accounts during prospecting. Both teams can use a simple numerical assessment to determine how ready potential customers are for genuine sales conversations. The close sales representative might take over the nurturing process once the first meeting has been set.

A sales pitch.

Before you start calling, we recommend you have a standard cold-calling conversation. It takes eight attempts to reach a potential customer by cold calling, so it is important to follow up. A call sequence will help your sales reps know when and how to follow up.

The following cold-calling cycle is used by EBQ’s sales representatives:

The call cadence can be broken down into steps as part of a cadence bloc. If the cadence block is repeated repeatedly without receiving a response, our sales professionals will de-prioritize a prospect.

This cold-calling cadence makes sure that leads are followed up on by the SDR frequently enough and also prevents them from wasting their time.

3. Warm Calling

Warm calling is when you make contact with potential customers who are familiar with your brand. Warm calling is a better prospecting method than cold calling.

Warm calling is the act of making cold calls to people you already have a relationship with.

• Referrals
• Events
• Inbound Marketing

Referral Leads

Referring a potential consumer to your firm from a friend or family member is more likely than any other type of lead to convert. There are two options: Referrals from within your company or from a satisfied client.

HubSpot reported that 84% of B2B buyers start their buying journey through recommendations. These leads are ready to buy and they have shown confidence in your brand.

Check Dripify

Event Leads

These prospects are most commonly found at trade exhibitions and conferences. They are likely to have had a conversation with you or given your contact information as a result.

Inbound Marketing

Inbound leads can be generated by marketing initiatives like content marketing and social media. You can also generate inbound leads if you have a contact page on your website.

Prospects who request your attention because they have made it clear that they want to be contacted are considered highly warm or hot.

Inbound leads are those who download instructional material, for instance. This is a great way to establish a relationship and spark their interest in your products.

4. Outbound Email

Cold-calling via email is the same thing as outbound prospecting. Outbound emailing is more effective when it’s paired with phone calls, according to our experience.

In the cold call cadence example, you can see how the follow-up routine includes a mixture of voicemails and phone calls. Your reps will have better chances of connecting with potential customers if they use a variety of approaches.

If you talk to a customer on the phone, your chances of building a relationship are higher. Your B2B prospects prefer to communicate via email.

Here are some tips to help you compose an email prospecting.

A cold email or cold phone is only as successful as the ability to grab the attention of your target audience. Consider the fact that decision-makers receive a lot of emails in one day. You will need to think strategically if you want to be noticed.

You can tell them why you want to contact them (following up or scheduling a phone call, etc.).

Focus on one selling point for your product/service. What will this do for their lives and the company’s bottom line? Instead of focusing on the features and ignoring the consequences, think about the consequences.

With a clear call for action, tell them what you want. Set up a meeting by providing a link to your calendar.

Be mindful of your busy schedules and keep your email to a minimum.

Email templates can be used to save time. However, you should personalize each message based on the information that you have about the recipient and their goals.

5. LinkedIn is a great way to find new clients

LinkedIn is the most popular professional social networking site. It makes sense for B2B salespeople and executives to focus their efforts on prospecting.

LinkedIn allows you to connect with decision-makers in your industry by sending “connection” requests and direct messages.

You can also access additional professional tools on the site that will help you to improve your LinkedIn prospecting skills.

Navigator at LinkedIn

LinkedIn launched the LinkedIn Sales Navigator as a subscription-based tool to help salespeople track their progress and get more leads.

These services include lead referrals, complex search filters, and real-time contact information updates. InMail with Sales Navigator can be used to contact prospects you don’t have a relationship. Sales Navigator can be linked to your CRM for higher-tier subscriptions.

The Index of Social Selling

The LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI), which measures how successful you are in connecting with potential clients via LinkedIn, gives you a score.

The following areas determine your SSI score:

• Create a name for yourself (through your profile, content, and posts)
• Finding the right candidates
• Consider new perspectives
• Fostering human connection

Best Practices in B2B Prospecting

These best practices can be used to prospect while trying out these different approaches.

1. It is important to have lots of it

You don’t have to be looking for the best prospects. However, it is important to keep a steady stream of leads.

Don’t spend too much time on warmups in the initial stages of your pipeline. You can do this later in your follow-up cycles. B2B organizations often turn to sales representatives to prospect to keep up a fast pace and still establish enough contacts.

2. It is better to personalize than to automate

Automation tools can speed up prospecting, but there are also drawbacks to too heavily relying on these technologies.

While autodialers and prerecorded voicemails can help you reach more people, they may not be able to recognize the importance of personalization in sales. We advocate personalized outreach and messages, not just automated contact.

3. Make sure sales and marketing work in harmony

To create a strong demand-generating engine, your marketing and sales teams need to work together.

Each team must have a clear understanding of who your ideal customers are and what qualifies as a lead. This will allow them to align sales and marketing efforts.

EBRating is a system for assessing and qualifying leads. It can be used to align sales and marketing. You can also train your sales team on how to generate marketing leads by teaching them about different lead-generation channels.

Increase your B2B prospecting strategies regularly

These B2B recruitment tactics are tested and proven effective. However, the implementation may vary depending on the company and the offers. As a guide, see how your prospects react to these tactics. Based on market feedback, you can refine your recruitment efforts over time.

EBQ has helped hundreds of companies from many sectors to fill their sales pipelines by providing quality leads. For assistance in finding your target customers, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Conclusion

You can increase the quality of your B2B prospects lists by using the B2B Prospecting Strategies to Build Your Pipeline guide. These topics will help you determine the best prospecting strategies to recruit the most qualified customers.