B2B Sales Representative Prospecting Methods

Discover new B2B prospecting methods and get more prospects to your sales pipeline

In theory marketing team is supposed to bring prospects to sales representatives pipeline.

However, this doesn’t mean that we should seat and wait for new prospects and do nothing. Actually many prospecting methods should be used by the sales team because this will ensure an uninterrupted experience of your future clients.

Here is a list of 8 B2B prospecting methods that every sales representative should use.

1) Video prospecting

Make video prospecting your competitive advantage over the rest of sales reps. Video is much more engaging and people tend better consume information in form of video much more than in form of text or cold call.

2)Referrals

B2B prospects are almost 50% more likely to accept you communicating them if you or your company was referred to them. This is true for all the B2B sales representative prospecting methods described in this article.

Your existing happy customers are the most powerful and valuable source of getting more prospects in B2B environment. Your company profits from each client not only from the direct business, but also from the positive word of mouth effect. And the later factor can be even more profitable.

3) Networking and face-to-face

Networking is a “must have” B2B prospecting method. First of all if you do networking you will better understand your target markets, problems they face and tasks they have. This will be very important and beneficial for your organization if you, as a B2B sales representative, give this kind of insider knowledge.

Also, you can occasionally recommend your products and services that can solve the problems your target market has.

4) Seminars and webinars

Webinar and seminars are similar events. The difference is that seminars brings all participants into one location while webinars are held via Internet to organize a webinar you need to get a proper software or online service for webinar. It will be great if you can share materials and show your screen during the event.

Overall, webinars are great in that you can run them more often and you can reach prospects around the world. At the same time seminars are better for the audience engagement and involvement.

5) Trade shows

Trade shows is one of the best place to meet your target audience. However, this B2B prospecting methods tend to be one of the most expensive type of sales marketing. If you do it right trade shows will become a steady source of getting more prospects into your sales pipeline.

a) First of all you should set a goal of how many prospects you are going to get.

b) Then, you need to organize your space so that it is engaging and enforces your credibility. Never go to trade shows alone, because you can’t talk to everyone at once and be available all the time.

c) Try to get contact details of all people who showed interest to your company.

6) Content

Content is a king. Create a blog of your website and you will get much more attention from the audience. Make your content available in different forms like PDF files, slides, podcast etc. Find the best form to reach your B2B prospect.

However, if you are not an expert in creating a content you should get some help with it. If your content is not engaging enough all your efforts will be wasted and you will not get more prospects.

7) Social media

CoToday you have to be in social media because all of your potential prospects are in social networks. Even though we are dealing with companies in B2B markets we always communicate with people.

Try not to limit your presence there with creating an account and posting your offers. You should try to answer questions and help your prospects to find information they are looking for.

8) Cold calling

Cold calling is not easy and you should be prepared to hear “no” far more often than to hear “yes”. Actually, you should be ready to that only 1-3% of your calls will be successful.

However, cold calling still works and it can bring many new clients to your company if you do it right. To maximize your chances for success you should:

Prepare a script.

Pitch regularly.

Focus on the call.

Do not multitask. Talk about the value first.

Don’t start with talking about the price.

Use a handset.

Reference: http://www.logision.com/knowledge/b2b-sales-rep-prospecting-methods