Prospecting in B2B Sales

it's hard. But good processes & tools make it easier.

Table of Contents
👷🏼‍♂️ WORK IN PROGRESS 👷🏼‍♂️

Part of The B2B Sales Process

Analysis

First important step is to analyse past data.

Find patterns, trends, and opportunities.

Define ICP How to build an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

TAM data

Based on ICP, get data about TAM:

  • target companies
  • target roles
  • target regions/geos

eg. for looking at a specific target group, eg Universities:

  • scrape Scrapee or buy data Data providers for B2B sales lead generation about Universities in your target region(s)
  • looking in depth at a few universities' websites to understand better the lingo (words to use in outreaches to resonate), titles, triggers, potential ways in (eg GPO, supplier guidelines), etc.
    • if the target market includes public companies, looking at their Investor Relations websites, incl. latest Annual Report, can be a good source of info)
    • if in a hurry, you might send some individual cold emails on the back of that to start crafting & testing messaging.
  • scrape the TAM's websites, looking for keywords (eg "conference" or "abstract").. these will be priority accounts (at least one level down the funnel)
    • scraping script can include fetching email addresses when available, which will inform most likely email pattern Email Patterns to use to construct contact's emails (based on name off Linkedin).
  • use/scrape directories, including specific ones most relevant to what you sell (eg. Eventbrite when selling event solutions).

Focus on the right opportunities

Targeting

Leverage

Finding opportunities with leverage

Finding past customers or users in my prospect orgs

Deep account research

and lower level converstions to create a POV to send to VP and C-suite

Prospecting Methods for B2B Sales in SaaS

Cold Calling

The OG of prospecting. At least the last one standing, after door-to-door.

This involves making unsolicited calls to potential customers who may have a need for your SaaS product.

Cold calling

Email Campaigns

Email campaigns involve sending targeted emails to potential customers who may have opted in to receive communication from your company. These emails can be personalized and tailored to the recipient's needs and interests.

Social Media Outreach

Social media platforms like LinkedIn can be used to identify potential customers and reach out to them with personalized messages. This can be a more informal and non-intrusive way to engage with prospects.

Social Selling

This involves building a brand by sharing "thought leadership" posts that will resonate will your target audience.

Referrals

Referrals involve leveraging existing customers to refer new business. This can be done by offering incentives or by simply asking satisfied customers to refer others who may benefit from your SaaS product.

Events

This includes:

  • conferences
  • trade shows (both as an exhibitor and attendee)

but also:

Attending networking events and conferences can be a great way to meet potential customers in person and start building relationships.

Partnerships

Partnering with other companies in your industry can be a great way to access their customer base and generate new leads. This can involve co-marketing initiatives or referral programs that benefit both companies.

Channel partners

Enabling channel partners to sell on my behalf.

Executive Alignment

Writing ghost notes for my executives to send to prospect execs for alignment.

Creative campaigns

Creative campaigns and personalized gifts to send to execs

links

social