Techniques for successful Sales prospecting in B2B sector

14 March 2022

International business dictates its own terms and methods of sales and marketing at the global level. Due to globalization, online prospecting becomes the main and crucial factor for companies seeking to conquer the market and searching for new customers to boost their sales.

Modern trends in the global economy predict an increase in the use of digital technologies by 50% in 2022. The transformation of enterprises takes place, following the programs of achieving the operational goals, while many products and services switch to a digital delivery and service model, or require additional automation to remain competitive. There is a modern and constant trend: “digital technologies will continue to play a seminal role in enterprise strategy and success”.

To win the attention of potential buyers for their products and sales benefits, companies create websites and social accounts. However, this is not enough for a segmented customer search – and then specialized B2B ‘find engines’ come into play.

Prospecting Sources

If you plan to start working with a specific business sector in a particular country, you may use specialized international B2B search platforms and services to identify business partners. Do believe: when creating such platforms, a lot of work was done to collect, process and structure data from dozens of countries of the world.

With them, you easily identify the target markets for the start of sales and take advantage of solutions created specifically for professionals. Let’s take a closer look at the search-and-find function using the example of the EasyBusiness service operating on the Kompass.com platform in 28 languages​ with a B2B database of 57 million companies from more than 70 countries worldwide.

The service offers a refined search by different criteria depending on your tasks – you can generate lists of potential customers by country, region, type of activity, export or import, production or trade, annual turnover, number of employees and many more search filters. You can also analyze your market thanks to features such as the geolocation on a map, statistical tables and graphic charts.

A generated list that meets your criteria can be exported to a file, so that you can import it to your CRM system. Such a tailor made database and its advanced features are a source of work for your managers and can be used to carry out the following processes and activities:

• Identification of target audience and decision-making level (e.g. import or procurement departments)
• Telemarketing
• Telesales
• Direct marketing campaigns
• Market researches
• Lead Generation
• Counterpart monitoring
• Competitor monitoring, benchmarking

Online services, such as EasyBusiness, are modern and unique online tools for searching and generating customized databases, as well as segmenting B2B audiences around the world.

Prospecting Plan

What is a prospecting plan? How to deal with it and to customize it according to your goals and the tools at your disposal?

A prospecting plan is a combination of steps you take one by one to win new customers.

Example of a Prospecting Plan

Let’s say, you’re offering a B2B marketing solution. For example, a software tool for human resources management. You define the target audience – in this example it is:

• HR managers of large companies in France.
• CEO of small companies or startups in France.

Your prospecting plan will include 4 key steps:

1. Create a database
2. Integrate the database into your CRM.
3. Create a message and launch it through the automated direct marketing service.
4. After receiving the first responses, rework the list of “cold” prospects into a datasheet of “hot” leads.

So since you’re targeting the B2B segment and you don’t have a database, what should your prospecting plan be? Where are you going to look for your clients? How are you going to customize and automate your approach to achieve large sales turnover?

The algorithm is quite simple:

• Use a business prospecting tool such as EasyBusiness
• After creating a list of potential customers and data exporting, design and execute your digital marketing campaigns
• Evaluate performance after contacting, lead generation and conversion.

The record file of potential customers: what it is needed for and how to get it?

Prospect database is a great tool for growing your business! If you want to create a qualified prospect database, then obviously you would need a source file.

Simply put, if you want to effectively organize your search, then you need to use the tool of identification of your potential clients and decision makers, as well as their further data. This is a simple and efficient mini-diagnostics that will help you build your commercial strategy!

Prospect record file: Mistakes to avoid

Here are 5 mistakes to avoid for a successful commercial search practice:

• Do not search without targeting
• Do not start without a prospecting plan
• Do not make a standard offer to all your customers
• Keep in mind incoming marketing
• Use more than one lead channel.

Fortunately for you, effective search skills can be learned! Especially if you use tools such as EasyBusiness to make your life easier:

• Export qualified lead lists
• Create search combinations
• Adapt your offer in line with your goals
• Regularly update lists
• Use digital marketing tools.

How do I track my prospecting?

You have to prepare a prospecting commercial funnel in advance to be able to determine a good follow-up plan for the search process. It may take quite a long time to form, but after that, all you need to do is rewrite it into any tool you like. However, the idea remains unchanged in all tools:

• Create a source file with key data for each candidate
• Send the first message by creating a Direct Marketing campaign,
• If the prospect responds, you proceed to schedule an appointment, etc.
• If the prospect does not respond, you try to contact him in other ways.

Develop a sales technique that works

According to the e-marketing.fr website, the sales technique is defined as follows:

All techniques and methods available to sellers to achieve the most efficient product sales level.

Simply put, they combine both professional and personal skills. You cannot qualify for a good seller title unless you can develop certain soft skills that you need to sell.

Soft skills to sell better

What helps to sell:

• Empathy. How can you sell a product if you don’t know how to feel to be a potential customer? You must fully understand their problems and, therefore, their needs.
• Sympathy. The client should always be the focus of your attention.
• Reliability. Continue to explore your business, stay up to date, etc. You need to know your tools from the inside. You will feel more comfortable during the discussion.
• Inspiring confidence. If the other three points have done their job, you will naturally inspire confidence. How do you know if it is? Analyze feedback from your prospects.

Hard skills to turn a prospective customer into a customer

• Master digital tools and digital sales techniques (online prospecting, digital marketing, CRM, business process automation).

Let’s face it: the future is for virtual sales. While online intelligence is not the future – it is the present.

data data marketing digital marketing prospecting tools sales prospecting tools